Inspiring Quotes from Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa's Legacy of Love
Mother Teresa, also known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, was a Catholic nun and missionary who devoted her life to serving the poor and sick. Born in 1910 in what is now Skopje, North Macedonia, she joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish congregation of nuns with missions in India, in 1928. In 1946, she felt a calling to leave her convent and work among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. In 1948, she received permission from the Catholic Church to start her own order, Missionaries of Charity.
She spent the next decades working tirelessly to help the poor, the sick, and the dying, often in conditions of extreme hardship. She opened hospices, orphanages, and leper colonies, and her order also ran soup kitchens, mobile clinics, and schools. She also established a global network of missions, opening houses in over 130 countries.
Her work was recognized and honored by many, including the Indian government, which awarded her the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, in 1980. She was also honored by the United Nations and many other organizations, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times.
Mother Teresa’s impact was not only in the material help she provided, but also in the compassion and selflessness that she embodied and instilled in others. Her message of love and service continues to inspire people around the world to this day.
Famous Quotes from Mother Teresa
“Love begins at home”
“I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world”
“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread”
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
“Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.”
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
“Peace begins with a smile.”
“We fear the future because we are wasting today.”
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”
“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”
“A life not lived for others is not a life.”
“I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.”
“If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.”
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
“God doesn’t require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.”
“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”
“Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.”
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”
“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.”
“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”
“Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it.”
“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.”
“I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.”
“If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.”
“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
“Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.”
“One of the realities we’re all called to go through is to move from repulsion to compassion and from compassion to wonderment.”
“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it.”
“Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family.”
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”
“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.”
“Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self.”
“Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.”
“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.”
“Life is a challenge; we must take it.”
“Poverty was not created by God. It is we who have caused it, you and I through our egotism.”
“People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.”
“The person who gives with a smile is the best giver because God loves a cheerful giver.”
“One filled with the joy preaches without preaching.”
“I do not pray for success; I ask for faithfulness.”
“I know I am touching the living body of Christ in the broken bodies of the hungry and the suffering.”
“Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.”
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
“Joy is a net of love in which you can catch souls.”
“Work without love is slavery.”
“The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.”
“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.”
“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.”
“We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work. We have been created in order to love and to be loved.”
“I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.”
“We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.”
Additional resources for learning more about Mother Teresa and her work include:
- The official website of the Missionaries of Charity, the order that Mother Teresa founded: https://www.missionariesofcharity.org/
- Mother Teresa: A Biography by Joan Graff Clucas: This book provides a detailed and well-researched account of Mother Teresa’s life and work.
- Mother Teresa: The Legacy and the Saint by Mary Johnson: This book provides an intimate look at Mother Teresa’s life and includes interviews with those who knew her well.
- Mother Teresa: In the Shadow of Our Lady by Navin Chawla: This biography provides a comprehensive look at Mother Teresa’s life and work, and also includes photographs and personal anecdotes.
- Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta, edited by Brian Kolodiejchuk: This book is a collection of Mother Teresa’s personal writings, including her letters and diaries, providing an intimate look at her inner thoughts and struggles.
Additionally, Mother Teresa’s speeches and interviews can be found online, which provide a deeper understanding of her thoughts and values. Furthermore, you can visit Mother Teresa’s House in Kolkata, India, which is now a museum dedicated to her life and work.
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