Mother Teresa was an incredible person, and her life and work have always motivated me. She dedicated her life to helping those in need as a Catholic nun and missionary, and today, people all around the world are inspired and uplifted by her words of wisdom and kindness.
Mother Teresa’s inspirational quotes reflect her profound faith and love for humanity. We’ll look at some of her most famous quotes and the powerful ideas they express in this article.
Join me as we explore Mother Teresa’s legacy and the lessons we may learn from her words of wisdom.
Who is Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun on a mission to help the poor and sick. She was born in Skopje (now North Macedonia) in 1910 and joined the Loreto Sisters at the age of 18.
She started the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1948, and it grew to have thousands of members in over 130 countries. Mother Teresa won many awards for her amazing work, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
Here are some interesting facts about Mother Teresa:
- She was fluent in five languages: Albanian, English, Bengali, Hindi, and Serbo-Croatian.
- Mother Teresa’s work was first denied recognition by the Indian government, and she faced strong opposition from local politicians and religious leaders.
- She had a very modest and simple life, despite her fame and recognition. She dressed simply in a white sari with a blue border and lived in poverty, much like the people she served.
- She had a variety of health challenges, including heart trouble and malaria, yet she worked relentlessly until she died in 1997.
- Mother Teresa’s canonization was controversial because of concerns regarding the efficacy of her medical procedures and the amount of money contributed to her organization that was not used for direct aid.
Mother Teresa Quotes on Serving Others
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
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.
Spread love wherever you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Peace begins with a smile.
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.
If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
We fear the future because we are wasting today.
When you don’t have anything, then you have everything.
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
The profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life.
I want you to be concerned about your next-door neighbor. Do you know your next-door neighbor?
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.
Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home.
Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for the money. No, I wouldn’t touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.
Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
Some people come into our life as blessings. Some come into your life as lessons.
I think I’m more difficult than critical.
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
A life not lived for others is not a life.
Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.
I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.
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.
Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.
I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.
Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it.
Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.
Spread the love of God through your life but only use words when necessary.
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.
Poverty was not created by God. It is we who have caused it, you and I through our egotism.
There is the thing you can do but I cannot and there is the thing I can but you cannot; so, let us make something beautiful for God.
One filled with joy preaches without preaching.
Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.
People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
I know I am touching the living body of Christ in the broken bodies of the hungry and the suffering.
Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
Mother Teresa Quotes on Love
We must never be afraid to be a sign of contradiction for the world.
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter.
Not handouts, but rather hands held.
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.
Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love but to use violence to get what they want.
The openness of our hearts and minds can be measured by how wide we draw the circle of what we call 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.
Work without love is slavery.
Words that do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.
The first requirement for prayer is silence. People of prayer are people of silence
Although she is little, she is fierce.
Humility is truth, therefore in all sincerity, we must be able to look up and say, I can do all things in Him who strengthens me. By yourself, you can do nothing, have nothing but sin, weakness, and misery. All the gifts of nature and grace you have from God.
May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.
Peace and war start within one’s own home. If we really want peace for the world, let us start by loving one another within our families. Sometimes it is hard for us to smile at one another.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway
It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway.
One of the greatest diseases is being nobody to anybody.
In order to keep the lamp burning you have to keep putting the oil in it.
Smiling novices. I can hear the music of your laughter of joy. Learn, my children, to be holy, for true holiness consists of doing God’s work with a smile.
The best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice we give to others.
I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.
Life is a game, play it… Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Whenever you share the love with others, you’ll notice the peace that comes to you and to them.
Famous Mother Teresa Quotes To Live By
I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.
Love is a fruit in season at all times and within reach of every hand.
It is a kingly act to assist the fallen.
I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.
I want you to be concerned about your next-door neighbor. Do you know your next-door neighbor?
God doesn’t require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.
Be happy at the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.
Good works are links that form a chain of love.
The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
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.
If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.
Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.
Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, and forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.
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.
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.
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.
Wrapping up:
Did you find these quotes by Mother Teresa inspiring? If so, we encourage you to share them with your friends and family. Together, we can spread her message of love and compassion and make a positive difference in the world.
Whether you are looking for a way to brighten someone’s day or seeking inspiration for your own life, Mother Teresa quotes offer a powerful reminder of the importance of serving others and showing kindness.
So go ahead and share these quotes with your network, and let us all work together to create a world filled with love, peace, and compassion.
