Quotes from Teresa of Avila

How poor is the wisdom of men, and how uncertain their forecast!

In all created things discern the providence and wisdom of God, and in all things give Him thanks.

Learn to self-conquest, persevere thus for a time, and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which you gain from it.

How is it that there are not many who are led by sermons to forsake open sin? Do you know what I think? That is because preachers have too much worldly wisdom.

The important thing is not to think much but to love much; do, then, whatever most arouses you to love.

Untilled ground, however rich, will bring forth thistles and thorns; so also the mind of man.

About the injunction of the Apostle Paul that women should keep silent in church? Don't go by one text only.

However softly we speak, God is near enough to hear us.

If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend.

Do not dismayed daughters, at the number of things which you have to consider before setting out on this divine journey, which is the royal road to heaven. By taking this road we gain such precious treasures that it is no wonder if the cost seems to us a high one. The time will come when we shall realize that all we have paid has been nothing at all by comparison with the greatness of our prizes.

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.

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

We know only that we are living in these bodies and have a vague idea, because we have heard it, and because our faith tells us so, that we possess souls. As to what good qualities there may be in our souls, or who dwells within them, or how precious they are, those are things which seldom consider and so we trouble little about carefully preserving the soul's beauty.

The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too.

O Lord, all our troubles come to us because we do not have our eyes fixed on you. If only we looked at the path we're walking, we would soon arrive. But, we stumble and fall a thousand times and we stray because we do not set our eyes on the true Way.

It is a great advantage for us to be able to consult someone who knows us, so that we may learn to know ourselves.

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

Mental prayer is, as I see it, simply a friendly intercourse and frequent solitary conversation with Him who, as we know, loves us.

But always when I was without a book, my soul would at once become disturbed, and my thoughts wandered. As I read, I began to call them together again and, as it were, laid a bait for my soul

Prayer and comfortable living are incompatible.

For though we know quite well that God is present in all that we do, our nature is such that it makes us lose sight of the fact; but when this favour is granted it can no longer do so, for the Lord, who is near at hand, awakens it. And even the favours aforementioned occur much more commonly, as the soul experiences a vivid and almost constant love for Him whom it sees or knows to be at its side.

I cannot understand how humility exists, or can exist, without love, or love without humility

many people are good at talking and bad at understanding

you must not build upon foundations of prayer and contemplation alone, for, unless you strive after the virtues and practice them, you will never grow to be more than dwarfs.