Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart.

Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

Give until it hurts.

I must do something.

I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?

If we pray, we will believe; If we believe, we will love; If we love, we will serve.

If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive.

If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.

In the developed countries there is a poverty of intimacy of spirit, of loneliness, of lack of love. There is no greater sickness today than that one.

Intense love does not measure; it just gives.

It is a poverty to decide that an unborn child must die so that you may live as you like.

It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.

Let's do something beautiful for God.

Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.

Love cannot remain by itself--it has no meaning.
Love has to be put into action and that action is service.
Whatever form we are, able or disabled, rich or poor,
it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing;
a lifelong sharing of love with others.

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.

Nakedness is not only for a piece of clothing; nakedness is lack of human dignity, and also that beautiful virtue of purity, and lack of that respect for each other.

Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.

Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well.

The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise.

The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not a mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy.

The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.

The world today is hungry not only for bread but hungry for love; hungry to be wanted, to be loved.

There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives--the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them.

There is only one God and He is God to all;
therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God.
I've always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu,
a Muslim become a better Muslim,
a Catholic become a better Catholic.

We can do no great things; only small things with great love.

We have been created to love and to be loved.

We must make our homes centers of compassion and forgive endlessly.

When I see waste here [U.S.A.], I feel angry on the inside. I don't approve of myself getting angry; but it's something you can't help after seeing Ethiopia.

Would you like to see Jesus?
[Mother Teresa takes Bishop Curlin around a few walls to a man lying on a black leather pallet who has clearly visible things crawling on his body. As the bishop stands there in shock, Mother Teresa kneels down and wraps her arms around him, holding him like a baby in one's arms.]
Here he is.
[The bishop asks "Who?"]
Jesus. Didn't he say you'd 'find me in the least person on earth?' Isn't this Jesus challenging us to reach out and love?

You and I, we are the Church, no? We have to share with our people. Suffering today is because people are hoarding, not giving, not sharing. Jesus made it very clear: Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me. Give a glass of water, you give it to me. Receive a little child, you receive me. Clear.


Mother Teresa received beatification from Pope John Paul II. In 1979 she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her charity projects throughout the world.






Books about Mother Teresa at Amazon.com.