Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, North Macedonia. She was a renowned Albanian-Indian Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 to serve the "poorest of the poor" in Calcutta, India. She dedicated her life to helping the destitute, sick, and dying, earning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She was canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016. May these Mother Teresa famous quotes offer you insights that will become an instrument in spreading love, peace, and faith in God in everyone's life.
1. “When you have nothing left but God, you have more than enough to start over again.” – Mother Teresa
2. “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” – Mother Teresa
3. “Joy is a net of love in which you can catch souls.” – Mother Teresa
4. “Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.” – Mother Teresa
5. “Jesus said to love one another. He didn't say love the whole world.” – Mother Teresa
6. “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” – Mother Teresa
7. “I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.” – Mother Teresa
8. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa
9. “One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.” – Mother Teresa
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10. “There are many people who can do big things, but there are very few people who will do the small things.” – Mother Teresa
11. “The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.” – Mother Teresa
12. “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa
13. “Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa
14. “Joy is a strength.” – Mother Teresa
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15. “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” – Mother Teresa
16. “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” – Mother Teresa
17. “Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.” – Mother Teresa
18. “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa
19. “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” – Mother Teresa
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20. “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” – Mother Teresa
21. “God doesn't require you to succeed, he only requires that you try.” – Mother Teresa
22. “A life not lived for others is not a life.” – Mother Teresa
23. “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” – Mother Teresa
24. “I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I 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
-min.jpg "Famous quotes and sayings by Mother Teresa")
25. “The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” – Mother Teresa
26. “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.” – Mother Teresa
27. “Love is not patronizing, and charity isn't about pity. It is about love. Charity and love are the same. With charity, you give love, so don't just give money but reach out your hand instead.” – Mother Teresa
28. “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
29. “People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.” – Mother Teresa
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30. “Intense love does not measure, it just gives.” – Mother Teresa
More Mother Teresa Quotes and Sayings about Life
31. “May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.” – Mother Teresa
32. “The person who gives with a smile is the best giver because God loves a cheerful giver.” – Mother Teresa
33. “If we pray, we will believe; If we believe, we will love; If we love, we will serve.” – Mother Teresa
34. “In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.” – Mother Teresa
35. “I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.” – Mother Teresa
36. “Hungry for love, he looks at you. Thirsty for kindness, He begs of you. Naked for loyalty, He hopes in you. Homeless for shelter in your heart, He asks of you. Will you be that one to him?” – Mother Teresa
37. “I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.” – Mother Teresa
38. “Smile at each other. Smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other. It doesn't matter who it is, and that will help us grow in greater love for each other.” – Mother Teresa
39. “A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. She gives most who gives with joy.” – Mother Teresa
40. “Spread the love of God through your life but only use words when necessary.” – Mother Teresa
41. “Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life.” – Mother Teresa
42. “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
43. “We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.” – Mother Teresa
44. “I think it is very good when people suffer. To me that is like the kiss of Jesus.” – Mother Teresa
45. “Love begins at home and it is not how much we do but how much love we put in that action.” – Mother Teresa
46. “In the final analysis it is between you and God, it was never between you and them anyway.” – Mother Teresa
47. “The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.” – Mother Teresa
48. “It is not what to do, but how much love we put into the doing. We can do not greats, only small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa
49. “Prayer makes your heart bigger, until it is capable of containing the gift of God himself. Prayer begets faith, faith begets love, and love begets service on behalf of the poor.” – Mother Teresa
50. “The greatest science in the world; in heaven and on earth; is love.” – Mother Teresa
51. “Seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, all the time, and his hand in every happening; This is what it means to be contemplative in the heart of the world. Seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor.” – Mother Teresa
52. “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
53. “I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.” – Mother Teresa
54. “Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things. It consists in accepting, with a smile, what Jesus sends us. It consists in accepting and following the will of God.” – Mother Teresa
55. “I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.” – Mother Teresa
56. “When you know how much God is in love with you then you can only live your life radiating that love.” – Mother Teresa
57. “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
58. “Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.” – Mother Teresa
59. “Why can't there be love that never gets tired?” – Mother Teresa
60. “When you have nothing left but God, you have more than enough to start over again.” – Mother Teresa
61. “Be happy in the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.” – Mother Teresa
62. “Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.” – Mother Teresa
63. “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” – Mother Teresa
64. “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” – Mother Teresa
65. “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
66. “We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.” – Mother Teresa
67. “If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” – Mother Teresa
68. “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.” – Mother Teresa
69. “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
70. “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
71. “Peace begins with a smile.” – Mother Teresa
72. “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, and grass grow in silence; see the stars, the moon, and the sun and how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Mother Teresa
73. “Yes, you must live life beautifully and not allow the spirit of the world that makes gods out of power, riches, and pleasure make you to forget that you have been created for greater things.” – Mother Teresa
74. “There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter.” – Mother Teresa
75. “Love begins by taking care of the closest ones, the ones at home.” – Mother Teresa
76. “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
77. “If now we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten how to see God in one another.” – Mother Teresa
78. “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
79. “Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.” – Mother Teresa
80. “The problem with the world is that we draw the circle of our family too small.” – Mother Teresa
81. “Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” – Mother Teresa
82. “Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, take it.” – Mother Teresa
83. “If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will act.” – Mother Teresa
84. “It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” – Mother Teresa
85. “We fear the future because we are wasting today.” – Mother Teresa
86. “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” – Mother Teresa
87. “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
88. “Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self.” – Mother Teresa
89. “Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it.” – Mother Teresa
90. “Live simply so others may simply live.” – Mother Teresa
91. “If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.” – Mother Teresa
92. “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Mother Teresa
93. “Good works are links that form a chain of love.” – Mother Teresa
94. “Helping hands are better than praying lips.” – Mother Teresa
95. “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” – Mother Teresa
96. “True love is love that causes us pain, that hurts, and yet brings us joy. That is why we must pray to God and ask Him to give us the courage to love.” – Mother Teresa
97. “I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.” – Mother Teresa
98. “It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.” – Mother Teresa
99. “If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.” – Mother Teresa
100. “I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?” – Mother Teresa
101. “Never be so busy as not to think of others.” – Mother Teresa
102. “Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.” – Mother Teresa
103. “It is a kingly act to assist the fallen.” – Mother Teresa
104. “One of the realities we’re all called to go through is to move from repulsion to compassion and from compassion to wonderment.” – Mother Teresa
105. “Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.” – Mother Teresa
Share these Mother Teresa Motivational Quotes and Phrases with your friends, family, and loved ones to inspire them as well.
2. “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” – Mother Teresa
3. “Joy is a net of love in which you can catch souls.” – Mother Teresa
4. “Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.” – Mother Teresa
5. “Jesus said to love one another. He didn't say love the whole world.” – Mother Teresa
6. “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” – Mother Teresa
7. “I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.” – Mother Teresa
8. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa
9. “One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.” – Mother Teresa
11. “The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.” – Mother Teresa
12. “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa
13. “Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa
14. “Joy is a strength.” – Mother Teresa
16. “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” – Mother Teresa
17. “Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.” – Mother Teresa
18. “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa
19. “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” – Mother Teresa
21. “God doesn't require you to succeed, he only requires that you try.” – Mother Teresa
22. “A life not lived for others is not a life.” – Mother Teresa
23. “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” – Mother Teresa
24. “I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I 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
26. “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.” – Mother Teresa
27. “Love is not patronizing, and charity isn't about pity. It is about love. Charity and love are the same. With charity, you give love, so don't just give money but reach out your hand instead.” – Mother Teresa
28. “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
29. “People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.” – Mother Teresa
More Mother Teresa Quotes and Sayings about Life
31. “May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.” – Mother Teresa
32. “The person who gives with a smile is the best giver because God loves a cheerful giver.” – Mother Teresa
33. “If we pray, we will believe; If we believe, we will love; If we love, we will serve.” – Mother Teresa
34. “In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.” – Mother Teresa
35. “I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.” – Mother Teresa
36. “Hungry for love, he looks at you. Thirsty for kindness, He begs of you. Naked for loyalty, He hopes in you. Homeless for shelter in your heart, He asks of you. Will you be that one to him?” – Mother Teresa
37. “I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.” – Mother Teresa
38. “Smile at each other. Smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other. It doesn't matter who it is, and that will help us grow in greater love for each other.” – Mother Teresa
39. “A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. She gives most who gives with joy.” – Mother Teresa
40. “Spread the love of God through your life but only use words when necessary.” – Mother Teresa
41. “Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life.” – Mother Teresa
42. “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
43. “We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.” – Mother Teresa
44. “I think it is very good when people suffer. To me that is like the kiss of Jesus.” – Mother Teresa
45. “Love begins at home and it is not how much we do but how much love we put in that action.” – Mother Teresa
46. “In the final analysis it is between you and God, it was never between you and them anyway.” – Mother Teresa
47. “The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.” – Mother Teresa
48. “It is not what to do, but how much love we put into the doing. We can do not greats, only small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa
49. “Prayer makes your heart bigger, until it is capable of containing the gift of God himself. Prayer begets faith, faith begets love, and love begets service on behalf of the poor.” – Mother Teresa
50. “The greatest science in the world; in heaven and on earth; is love.” – Mother Teresa
51. “Seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, all the time, and his hand in every happening; This is what it means to be contemplative in the heart of the world. Seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor.” – Mother Teresa
52. “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
53. “I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.” – Mother Teresa
54. “Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things. It consists in accepting, with a smile, what Jesus sends us. It consists in accepting and following the will of God.” – Mother Teresa
55. “I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.” – Mother Teresa
56. “When you know how much God is in love with you then you can only live your life radiating that love.” – Mother Teresa
57. “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
58. “Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.” – Mother Teresa
59. “Why can't there be love that never gets tired?” – Mother Teresa
60. “When you have nothing left but God, you have more than enough to start over again.” – Mother Teresa
61. “Be happy in the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.” – Mother Teresa
62. “Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.” – Mother Teresa
63. “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” – Mother Teresa
64. “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” – Mother Teresa
65. “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
66. “We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.” – Mother Teresa
67. “If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” – Mother Teresa
68. “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.” – Mother Teresa
69. “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
70. “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
71. “Peace begins with a smile.” – Mother Teresa
72. “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, and grass grow in silence; see the stars, the moon, and the sun and how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Mother Teresa
73. “Yes, you must live life beautifully and not allow the spirit of the world that makes gods out of power, riches, and pleasure make you to forget that you have been created for greater things.” – Mother Teresa
74. “There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter.” – Mother Teresa
75. “Love begins by taking care of the closest ones, the ones at home.” – Mother Teresa
76. “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
77. “If now we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten how to see God in one another.” – Mother Teresa
78. “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
79. “Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.” – Mother Teresa
80. “The problem with the world is that we draw the circle of our family too small.” – Mother Teresa
81. “Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” – Mother Teresa
82. “Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, take it.” – Mother Teresa
83. “If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will act.” – Mother Teresa
84. “It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” – Mother Teresa
85. “We fear the future because we are wasting today.” – Mother Teresa
86. “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” – Mother Teresa
87. “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
88. “Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self.” – Mother Teresa
89. “Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it.” – Mother Teresa
90. “Live simply so others may simply live.” – Mother Teresa
91. “If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.” – Mother Teresa
92. “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Mother Teresa
93. “Good works are links that form a chain of love.” – Mother Teresa
94. “Helping hands are better than praying lips.” – Mother Teresa
95. “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” – Mother Teresa
96. “True love is love that causes us pain, that hurts, and yet brings us joy. That is why we must pray to God and ask Him to give us the courage to love.” – Mother Teresa
97. “I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.” – Mother Teresa
98. “It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.” – Mother Teresa
99. “If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.” – Mother Teresa
100. “I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?” – Mother Teresa
101. “Never be so busy as not to think of others.” – Mother Teresa
102. “Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.” – Mother Teresa
103. “It is a kingly act to assist the fallen.” – Mother Teresa
104. “One of the realities we’re all called to go through is to move from repulsion to compassion and from compassion to wonderment.” – Mother Teresa
105. “Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.” – Mother Teresa
Share these Mother Teresa Motivational Quotes and Phrases with your friends, family, and loved ones to inspire them as well.