Quotes from Saint Teresa of Avila

The custom of speaking to God Almighty as freely as with a slave - caring nothing whether the words are suitable or not, but simply saying the first thing that comes to mind from being learnt by rote by frequent repetition - cannot be called prayer: God grant that no Christian may address Him in this manner.

If I should say anything that is not in conformity with what is held by the Holy Roman Catholic Church, it will be through ignorance and not through malice. This may be taken as certain, and also that, through God's goodness, I am, and shall always be, as I always have been, subject to her.

Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people's, if we are always criticizing trivial actions - which often are not real defects at all, but we construe them wrongly through our ignorance of their motives.

I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible.

To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.

Alas, O Lord, to what a state dost Thou bring those who love thee! Yet these sufferings are as nothing compared to the reward Thou wilt give for them.

I do not fear Satan half so much as I fear those who fear him.

In ecstasy come true revelations, great favors, and visions, all of which help to humble and strengthen the soul, to make it despise the things of this life, and more clearly realize the greatness of the reward that the Lord reserves for those who serve him.

God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person.

Anyone who truly loves God travels securely.

Reflect carefully on this, for it is so important that I can hardly lay too much stress on it. Fix your eyes on the Crucified and nothing else will be of much importance to you.

We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us.

I believe, unless I had a new book, I was never happy.

spiritual marriage is like rain falling from heaven into a river

When the Lord is pleased to withdraw, the soul is left in great loneliness; yet all the possible efforts that it might make to regain His companionship are of little avail, for the Lord gives this when He wills and it cannot be acquired. Sometimes again, companionship comes from a saint which is also a great help to us.

Much harm may result from bad company and we are inclined by nature to follow what is worse rather than what is better.

It is a dangerous thing to be satisfied with ourselves.

Those who risk all for God will find that they have both lost all and gained all

Sweet Love say Where, how and when What do you want of me? Yours I am, for You I was born: What do you want of me? . . .

In a state of grace, the soul is like a well of limpid water, from which flow only streams of clearest crystal. Its works are pleasing both to God and man, rising from the River of Life, beside which it is rooted like a tree.

While the soul is in mortal sin, nothing can profit it; none of its good works merit an eternal reward, since they do not proceed from God as their first principle, and by Him alone is our virtue real virtue.

O my God, what must a soul be like when it is in this state! It longs to be all one tongue with which to praise the Lord. It utters a thousand pious follies, in a continuous endeavor to please Him who thus possesses it.

Whoever has not begun the practice of prayer, I beg for the love of the Lord not to go without so great a good. There is nothing here to fear but only something to desire.

My good works, however wretched and imperfect, have been made better and perfected by Him Who is my Lord: He has rendered them meritorious. As to my evil deeds and my sins, He hid them at once. The eyes of those who saw them, He made even blind; and He has blotted them out of their memory.