Quotessence
Home / Authors / Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa Quotes

Saint

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsGivingPeopleJesusCalcuttaWorldHeartMotherPrayerPoor

Famous Mother Teresa Quotes

“The way to plan the family is natural family planning, not contraception...This (use of contraceptives) turns the attention to self and so it destroys the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other as happens in natural family planning, and not to self, as happens in contraception. Once that living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows easily . . . And abortion, which often follows from contraception, brings a people to be spiritually poor, and that is the worst poverty and the most difficult to overcome.”

PeopleWaySelfUseHappensTurnsDifficultNaturalLove IsPoorAttentionPovertyWifePlansWorstHusbandOvercomingPlanningDestroyedAbortionHusband And WifePro LifeContraceptionContraceptivesFamily PlanningGift Of Love
Author:Mother Teresa
Create image

“I once picked up a woman from a garbage dump and she was burning with fever; she was in her last days and her only lament was: My son did this to me. I begged her: You must forgive your son. In a moment of madness, when he was not himself, he did a thing he regrets. Be a mother to him, forgive him. It took me a long time to make her say: I forgive my son. Just before she died in my arms, she was able to say that with a real forgiveness. She was not concerned that she was dying. The breaking of the heart was that her son did not want her. This is something you and I can understand.”

WantHeartLongI CanRealMomentsAbleLastsMotherDyingSonRegretArmsLong TimeConcernedMadnessDiedForgivingBurningMy SonGarbageFeverDumpLast DayLamentYour Son
Author:Mother Teresa
Create image

“I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive it (the Nobel) in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.”

PeopleFeelsNamesPoorPovertyBlindGratefulBurdenHungryNakedHomelessPoor PeopleNobelUnwantedCrippledI Am GratefulUnlovedLeper
Author:Mother Teresa
Create image

“In the West we have a tendency to be profit-oriented, where everything is measured according to the results and we get caught up in being more and more active to generate results. In the East-especially in India-I find that people are more content to just be, to just sit around under a banyan tree for half a day chatting to each other. We Westerners would probably call that wasting time. But there is value to it. Being with someone, listening without a clock and without anticipation of results, teaches us about love. The success of love is in the loving-it is not in the result of loving.”

PeopleTimeValuesLove IsResultsHalfTeachTreeListeningIndiaWestCaughtProfitActiveEastTendenciesClockWasting TimeAnticipationCaught UpWesternersChatting
Book:A Simple Path-Open Market
Create image

“We never try to convert those who receive (aid) to Christianity but in our work we bear witness to the love of God's presence and if Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, or agnostics become for this better men - simply better - we will be satisfied. It matters to the individual what church he belongs to. If that individual thinks and believes that this is the only way to God for her or him, this is the way God comes into their life - his life. If he does not know any other way and if he has no doubt so that he does not need to search then this is his way to salvation.”

IfsThinkingKnowsMenWayNeedsTryingBelieveDoeMatterIndividualChurchChristianityDoubtBearsCatholicSalvationAidsSatisfiedBuddhistWitnessGod LoveNo DoubtProtestantsBetter ManGod's Presence
Author:Mother Teresa
Create image

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

GivingWellsHeartMayEyeCarePainFacesSpeakPoorSilenceKindnessOur LivesLonelinessTerribleHungerYour FaceWarmthCheerfulGreetingsYour SmileBlessed MotherSilence Of The HeartHunger For Love
Author:Mother Teresa
Create image

“Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.”

GodEyeFacesMotherReligiousKindnessExpressionCatholicSmileBe KindYour FaceMissionaryLove And KindnessNunPure LoveFamous WomenKindness And CompassionYour SmileCalcuttaCatholic SaintBlessed MotherKindness GenerositySuffering Of OthersCatholic FaithSmall Acts Of KindnessSpreading LoveKindness For WeaknessKindness Of God
Book:Where There Is Love, There Is God: A Path to Closer Union with God and Greater Love for Others
Create image

“I am sure that all people know deep down inside that the little child in the mother's womb is a human being from the moment of conception, created in the image of God to love and be loved. Let us pray that nobody will be afraid to protect that little child, to help that little child to be born. Jesus said: 'If you receive a little child in my name, you receive me.'”

PeopleIfsKnowsHumansChildrenLittlesSaidMomentsHelpingMotherJesusNamesBornHuman BeingsPrayingProtectConceptionWombDeep DownGod Image
Author:Mother Teresa
Create image

“For me, life is the most beautiful gift of God to mankind, therefore people and nations who destroy life by abortion and euthanasia are the poorest. I do not say legal or illegal, but I think that no human hand should be raised to kill life, since life is God's life in us, even in an unborn child.”

PeopleThinkingShouldHumansChildrenHandsBeautifulLife IsNationsMankindRaisedAbortionIllegalPoorestUnbornGift From GodEuthanasiaUnborn ChildHuman Hands
Author:Mother Teresa
Create image

“When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread. But a person who is shut out, who feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person who has been thrown out of society - that spiritual poverty is much harder to overcome. And abortion, which often follows from contraception, brings a people to be spiritually poor, and that is the worst poverty and the most difficult to overcome.”

PeopleGivingFeelsPersonsHas BeensSpiritualDifficultPoorPovertyPiecesStreetsWorstPicksOvercomingHarderHungryBreadAbortionThrownPlatesTerrifiedRiceUnwantedUnlovedContraception
Author:Mother Teresa
Create image

“I was asked why I did not give a rod with which to fish, in the hands of the poor, rather than give the fish itself as this makes them remain poor. So I told them: The people whom we pick up are not able to stand with a rod. So today I will give them fish and when they are able to stand, then I shall send them to you and you can give them the rod. That is your job. Let me do my work today.”

PeopleGivingHandsTodayAbleJobsPoorPicksLet MeFishes
Author:Mother Teresa
Create image