Teresa of Avila quotes:

Pain is never permanent.

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

It is here, my daughters, that love is to be found - not hidden away in corners but in the midst of occasions of sin. And believe me, although we may more often fail and commit small lapses, our gain will be incomparably the greater.

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

After you die, you wear what you are.

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

Out of suffering comes the serious mind; out of salvation, the grateful heart; out of endurance, fortitude; out of deliverance faith. Patient endurance attends to all things.

When the soul, through its own fault... becomes rooted in a pool of pitch-black, evil smelling water, it produces nothing but misery and filth.

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

Discontent with this world gives such a painful longing to quit it that, if the heart finds comfort, it is solely from the thought that God wishes it to remain here in banishment.

Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.

From heaven even the most miserable life will look like one bad night at an inconvenient hotel.

To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that.

Christ moves along the pots and pans.

I would write a thousand foolish things that one might be to the point, if only it might make us praise God more.

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

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.

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.

It is love alone that gives worth to all things.

I had many friends to help me to fall; but as to rising again, I was so much left to myself, that I wonder now I was not always on the ground. I praise God for His mercy; for it was He only Who stretched out His hand to me. May He be blessed for ever! Amen.

Don't let your sins turn into bad habits.

Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.

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

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.

True love grows by sacrifice and the more thoroughly the soul rejects natural satisfaction the stronger and more detached its tenderness becomes....

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.

Keep this in mind, for it is very important advice, so do not neglect it until you find you have such a fixed determination not to offend the Lord that you would rather lose a thousand lives and be persecuted by the whole world, than commit one mortal sin, and until you are most careful not to commit venial sins.

There is more security in self-denial, mortification, and other like virtues, than in an abundance of tears.

God prefers your health, and your obedience, to your penance.

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

... let there be no disappointment when obedience keeps you busy in outward tasks. If it sends you to the kitchen, remember that the Lord walks among the pots and pans ...

How is it that we do not die of love in seeing that God Himself could do no more than shed His divine blood for us drop by drop? When as man He was preparing for death, He made Himself our food in order to give us life. God becomes food, bread for his creatures. Is this not enough to make us die of love?

He has borne with thousands of foul and abominable sins which you have committed against Him, yet even they have not been enough to make Him cease looking upon you. Is it such a great matter, then, for you to avert the eyes of your soul from the outward things and sometimes to look at Him?

Let nothing disturb you,Let nothing frighten you,All things are passing away:God never changes.Patience obtains all things.Whoever has God lacks nothing;God alone suffices.

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.

Give me, if you will, prayers;Or let me know dryness,An abudance of devotion,Or if not, then barrenness.In you alone, Sovereign Majesty,I find my peace,What do you want of me?Yours I am, fo ryou I was born:What do you want of me?

For if the will has nothing to employ it and love has no present object with which to busy itself, the soul finds itself without either support or occupation, its solitude and aridity cause it great distress and its thoughts involve it in the severest conflict.

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

Let us consider the glorious Saint Paul: it seems that no other name fell from his lips than that of Jesus, because the name of Jesus was fixed and embedded in his heart.

I fully realize that this gratitude of mine is not in the least a sign of perfection: it must be my nature - I could be suborned with a sardine ...

May I not come before You with empty hands, since we are rewarded according to our deeds.

If we plant a flower or a shrub and water it daily it will grow so tall that in time we shall need a spade and a hoe to uproot it. It is just so, I think, when we commit a fault, however small, each day, and do not cure ourselves of it.

Untilled soil, however fertile it may be, will bear thistles and thorns; so it is with man's mind.

Christ has no body now but mine. He prays in me, works in me, looks through my eyes, speaks through my words, works through my hands, walks with my feet and loves with my heart.

God aids the valiant...both to you and to me He will give the help needed.

They deceive themselves who believe that union with God consists in ecstasies or raptures, and in the enjoyment of Him. For it consists in nothing except the surrender and subjection of our will - with our thoughts, words and actions - to the will of God.

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.

[Last words:] My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time to meet one another.