Quotes from Teresa of Avila

There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.

Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed.

Mental prayer is nothing else but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him.

You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.

Prayer is an act of love; words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love.

More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.

Much more is accomplished by a single word of the Our Father said, now and then, from our heart, than by the whole prayer repeated many times in haste and without attention.

All the trials we endure cannot be compared to these interior battles.

From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints good Lord deliver us.

God withholds Himself from no one who perseveres.

There is more value in a little study of humility and in a single act of it than in all the knowledge in the world.

The life of prayer is just love to God, and the custom of being ever with Him.

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.

Always think of yourself as everyone's servant; look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and reverence for them all.

It is love alone that gives worth to all things.

Let us remember that within us there is a palace of immense magnificence.

Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life. . . . If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.

All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding His life we find that He is the best example.

We may speak of love and humility as the true flowers of spiritual growth; and they give off a wonderful scent, which benefits all those who come near.

Settle yourself in solitude, and you will come upon God in yourself.

Prayer is a friendly conversation with the One we know loves us.

Life is a night spent in an uncomfortable inn.

The life of the spirit is not our life, but the life of God within us.

What a miserable life is this! There is no happiness that is secure and nothing that does not change.