Mother Teresa’s Quotes

We have collected and put the best Mother Teresa’s Quotes in the following categories. Enjoy reading these insights and feel free to share this page on your social media to inspire others.

May these Mother Teresa‘s quotes on abortion, life, death, love, charity, and more inspire you to never give up and keep working towards your goals. Who knows—success could be just around the corner.

See also: Mother Teresa Quotes and Mother Teresa’s Prayers

There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those.

If in your family someone has done something wrong, forgive that person. Show that person the forgiving Heart of God. – Mother Teresa

Joy can multiply itself in a Heart that overflows with Love. – Mother Teresa

The Joy of Jesus will be my strength — Mother Teresa

Love for my neighbor will lead me to True Love for God. – Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa

It isn’t how much we do, but how much Love we put into what we do that really counts. – Mother Teresa

Christ is hidden under the suffering appearance of anyone who is hungry, anyone who is naked, anyone who is homeless or dying. – Mother Teresa

Let’s Love one another; that will accomplish miracles. – Mother Teresa

You must Love with your time, your hands, and your hearts. You need to share all that you have. – Mother Teresa

People are hungry for Love. We need to open our eyes and see. – Mother Teresa

Love begins at home. – Mother Teresa

There are so many little things we can do for others; people forget about them. But these aren’t small things. – Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa’s Quotes

Fill up the loneliness and suffering of someone lacking love in our own family. – Mother Teresa

We need to extend to each and every one the assurance that God Loves him. – Mother Teresa

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. – Mother Teresa

Peace begins with a smile. – Mother Teresa

If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive. – Mother Teresa

Spread love everywhere you go; first of all in your house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. – Mother Teresa

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. – Mother Teresa

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

Holiness is not the luxury of the few; it is a simply duty. – Mother Teresa

Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile. – Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa’s Quotes

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. – Mother Teresa

Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love. – Mother Teresa

I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much. – Mother Teresa

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. – Mother Teresa

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. – Mother Teresa

God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that you try. – Mother Teresa

Live simply so others may simply live. – Mother Teresa

Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts. – Mother Teresa

I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things. – Mother Teresa

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. – Mother Teresa

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. – Mother Teresa

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. – Mother Teresa

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

Mother Teresa’s Quotes

Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world. – Mother Teresa

Good works are links that form a chain of love. – Mother Teresa

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. – Mother Teresa

I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I don’t know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will NOT ask, ‘How many good things have you done in your life?’ Rather he will ask, ‘How much LOVE did you put into what you did?’ – Mother Teresa

I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness. – Mother Teresa

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. – Mother Teresa

I think I’m more difficult than critical. – Mother Teresa

I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn’t touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God. – Mother Teresa

I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor? – Mother Teresa

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. – Mother Teresa

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. – Mother Teresa

If we want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it. – Mother Teresa

It is a kingly act to assist the fallen. – Mother Teresa

It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start. – Mother Teresa

Intense love does not measure, it just gives. – Mother Teresa

It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters. – Mother Teresa

It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. – Mother Teresa

Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. – Mother Teresa

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. – Mother Teresa

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. – Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa’s Quotes

Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty. – Mother Teresa

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work. – Mother Teresa

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

Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them. – Mother Teresa

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier. – Mother Teresa

Peace begins with a smile. – Mother Teresa

The success of love is in the loving – it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does NOT determine the value of what we have done. – Mother Teresa

There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use. – Mother Teresa

There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation in this world than for bread. – Mother Teresa

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls. – Mother Teresa

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. – Mother Teresa

Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. – Mother Teresa

One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody. – Mother Teresa

Please choose the way of peace. In the short term there may be winners and losers in this war that we all dread. But that never can, or never will justify the suffering, pain and loss of life your weapons will cause. – Mother Teresa

I have never been in a war before, but I have seen famine and death. I was asking (myself) what do they feel when they do this? I don’t understand it. They are all children of God. Why do they do it? I don’t understand. – Mother Teresa

Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own. – Mother Teresa

We fear the future because we are wasting today. – Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa’s Quotes

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

Do ordinary things with extraordinary love. – Mother Teresa

Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love but to use violence to get what they want. – Mother Teresa

Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness. – Mother Teresa

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do. – Mother Teresa

When you don’t have anything, then you have everything. – Mother Teresa

Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home. – Mother Teresa

Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more. – Mother Teresa

Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life. – Mother Teresa

I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness. – Mother Teresa

We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion. – Mother Teresa

If you want to change the world, go home and love your family. – Mother Teresa

It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving. – Mother Teresa

Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. – Mother Teresa

It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. – Mother Teresa

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it. – Mother Teresa

Work without love is slavery. – Mother Teresa

Spread the love of God through your life but only use words when necessary. – Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa’s Quotes

Jesus said love one another. He didn’t say love the whole world. – Mother Teresa

Some people come in our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons. – Mother Teresa

A life not lived for others is not a life. – Mother Teresa

I want you to be concerned about your next-door neighbor. Do you know your next-door neighbor? – Mother Teresa

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. – Mother Teresa

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight; build it anyway. – Mother Teresa

How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.– Mother Teresa

‎Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. – Mother Teresa

Keep the corners of your mouth turned up. Speak in a low, persuasive tone. Listen; be teachable. Laugh at good stories and learn to tell them…For as long as you are green, you can grow. – Mother Teresa

If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive. – Mother Teresa

I fear just one thing: Money! Greed was what motivated Judas to sell Jesus – Mother Teresa

Life is a challenge, we must take it. – Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa’s Quotes

From Wikiquote

  • My own Jesus,
    They say people in hell suffer eternal pain because of the loss of God – they would go through all that suffering if they had just a little hope of possessing God.
     In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing (Jesus, please forgive my blasphemies, I have been told to write everything). That darkness that surrounds me on all sides. I can’t lift my soul to God – no light or inspiration enters my soul. I speak of love for souls, of tender love for God, words pass through my words [sic, lips], and I long with a deep longing to believe in them! What do I labour for? If there be no God—there can be no soul.—If there is no soul then Jesus—You also are not true… Jesus don’t let my soul be deceived—nor let me deceive anyone. In the call You said that I would have to suffer much.—Ten years—my Jesus, You have done to me according to Your will—and Jesus hear my prayer—if this pleases You—if my pain and suffering—my darkness and separation gives You a drop of consolation—my own Jesus, do with me as You wish—as long as You wish, without a single glance at my feelings and pain… I beg of You only one thing—please do not take the trouble to return soon.—I am ready to wait for You for all eternity.

    • On her dark night of spiritual desolation amidst devotion, in a letter addressed to Jesus, as quoted in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (2007) edited by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, p. 192; regarding this quote, Fr. Kolodiejchuk writes: “…when addressing Jesus — that is, in prayer — she could express herself with ease. Fufilling her confessor’s request, she sent to him a letter addressed to Jesus, enclosing it with her letter dated September 3, 1959.” [1]
  • Often I wonder what does really God get from me in this state — no faith, no love — not even in feelings. The other day I can’t tell you how bad I felt. — There was a moment when I nearly refused to accept. — Deliberately I took the Rosary and very slowly and without even meditating or thinking – I said it slowly and calmly. The moment passed — but the darkness is so dark, and the pain is so painful. – But I accept whatever He gives and I give whatever He takes. People say they are drawn closer to God — seeing my strong faith. – is this not deceiving people? Every time I have wanted to tell the truth – “that I have no faith” – the words just do not come – my mouth remains closed. – And yet I still keep on smiling at God and all.
    • On her dark night of spiritual desolation amidst devotion, in a letter to Bishop Lawrence Trevor Picachy (September 1962), as quoted in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (2009) by Brian Kolodiejchuk, 2009, p. 238 ISBN 0307589234 ISBN 9780307589231
  • The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.
    • As quoted by Malcolm Muggeridge in Something Beautiful for God (1971)
  • I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No. I wouldn’t touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.
    • In: Malcolm Muggeridge, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, A Gift For God: Prayers and Meditations, New York: Harper & Row, 1975. p. 61; Cited in: M. Dhavamony. “Mother Teresa’s mission of love for the poor” in: Studia missionalia, Vol 39. (1990), p. 137
  • 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?
    • Statement of 1977, as quoted in Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (2011) by Susan Ratcliffe, p. 373
  • People are happier. There are more jobs. There are no strikes.
    • Mother Teresa in Emergency Rule period, 1975-77; quoted in: David Aikman (1998), Great souls: six who changed the century, p. 244
  • Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear. The tongue moves but does not speak.
    • Letter to Michael van der Peet (September 1979), quoted in “Mother Teresa Did Not Feel Christ’s Presence for Last Half of Her Life, Letters Reveal”, Fox News (24 August 2007)
  • From now on you must pray for your people and yourself three times a day.
    • Remarks to Mengistu Haile Mariam during the 1984-85 Ethiopian famine, as quoted by Dawit Wolde Giorgis in Red Tears: War, Famine and Revolution in Ethiopia, (The Red Sea Press Inc. 1989), p. 213
  • We are misunderstood, we are misrepresented, we are misreported. We are not nurses, we are not doctors, we are not teachers, we are not social workers. We are religious, we are religious, we are religious.
    • As quoted in Angelo Devananda, Daily Prayers with Mother Teresa (Fount, 1987), p. 91
  • Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand. Anyone may gather it and no limit is set. Everyone can reach this love through meditation, spirit of prayer, and sacrifice, by an intense inner life.
    • As quoted in Love, A Fruit Always In Season : Daily Meditations from the Words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1987) edited by Dorothy S. Hunt
  • Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
    • Mary Alice Warner, ‎Dayna Beilenson (1987) Women of faith and spirit: their words & thoughts, p. 42
  • Be kind to each other in your homes. Be kind to those who surround you. I prefer that you make mistakes in kindness rather than that you work miracles in unkindness. Often just for one word, one look, one quick action, and darkness fills the heart of the one we love.
    • Quoted in: Charlotte Gray. Mother Teresa: Her Mission to Serve God by Caring for the Poor. G. Stevens, (1988), p. 53
  • I don’t know what to say since I don’t know what is happening [in Albania]. I can say only one thing. My Albanian people are always in my heart. I pray very much to our Lord that His peace may come to our hearts, in our families and in all the world. I pray for Albania, that the Lord may help its leaders to see clearly because if they want to live in peace, they should love one another.
    • As quoted in Louis Zanga “Mother Teresa’s visit to Albania”, Radio Free Europe Research, (23 August 1989)
  • The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
    • Interview by Edward W. Desmond in TIME magazine (4 December 1989)
  • I’ve never seen the poor people being so familiar with their head of state as they were with her. It was a beautiful lesson for me.
    • On meeting Michèle Duvalier, quoted by Christopher Hitchens in The Missionary Position, (Verso, 1995), page 5
  • I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people.
    • As quoted by Christopher Hitchens in The Missionary Position, (Verso, 1995), page 11
  • I do not know anything about Charles Keating’s work or his business or the matters you are dealing with. I only know he has been kind and generous to God’s poor, and always ready to help whenever there was a need… Whenever someone asks me to speak to a judge, I always tell them to pray, to look into [their] heart, and to do what Jesus would do in that circumstance. And this is what I am asking of you, your Honor.
    • Letter to Judge Lance Ito, requesting clemency for Charles Keating (January 18 1992), as quoted by Christopher Hitchens in The Missionary Position, (Verso, 1995), page 67
  • 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.
    • A Simple Path, compiled by Lucinda Vardey (Ballantine Books, 1995), page 31
  • I am so pleased with all the good work you are doing for world peace and for people in so many countries. May we continue to work together and to share together all for the glory of God and for the good of man.
    • To Sri Chinmoy, as quoted in The Wings of Joy : Finding Your Path to Inner Peace (1997) by Sri Chinmoy
  • Spread love everywhere you go; first of all in your house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.
    • As quoted in Worldwide Laws of Life : 200 Eternal Spiritual Principles‎ (1998) by John Templeton, p. 448
  • We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if the drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of the missing drop.
    • As quoted in Mother Teresa’s Reaching Out In Love – Stories told by Mother Teresa, Compiled and Edited by Edward Le Joly and Jaya Chaliha, Barnes & Noble, 2002, p. 122
  • I do not agree with a big way of doing things. What matters is the individual. If we wait till we get numbers, then we will be lost in the numbers and we will never be able to show that love and respect for the person.
    • As quoted in Mother Teresa’s Reaching Out In Love – Stories told by Mother Teresa, Compiled and Edited by Edward Le Joly and Jaya Chaliha, Barnes & Noble, 2002, p. 122
  • I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I do know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, He will not ask, “How many good things have you done in your life?,” rather He will ask, “How much love did you put into what you did?
    • Quoted in: Honor Books, ‎W. B. Freeman (2004), God’s Little Devotional Book for Girls, p. 205
  • If I ever become a Saint — I surely be one of “darkness”. I will continually be absent from Heaven — to light the light of those in darkness on earth.
    • As quoted in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (2007) by Brian Kolodiejchuk
  • Don’t look for big things, just do small things with great love….The smaller the thing, the greater must be our love.
    • As quoted in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (2007) by Brian Kolodiejchuk
  • Lord, my God, who am I that You should forsake me? The Child of your Love–and now become as the most hated one–the one–You have thrown away as unwanted–unloved. I call, I cling, I want–and there is no One to answer–no One on Whom I can cling–no, No One.–Alone … Where is my Faith–even deep down right in there is nothing, but emptiness & darkness–My God–how painful is this unknown pain–I have no Faith–I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart–& make me suffer untold agony. So many unanswered questions live within me afraid to uncover them–because of the blasphemy–If there be God –please forgive me–When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven–there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives & hurt my very soul.–I am told God loves me–and yet the reality of darkness & coldness & emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart?
    • Undated letter indicating that, at least at times, Mother Teresa’s theological doubts were strong enough to be regarded as Christian atheism, reported by Time (9 March 2007) [2], and quoted in “Was Mother Teresa an atheist?”, in The Guardian (24 August 2007)
  • If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
    • Mother Teresa Reflects on Working Toward Peace, (essay, Santa Clara University, retrieved August 2012).

Leave a Reply