Sayings and prayers of Teresa of Avila.

1. "It is love alone that gives worth to all things."

2. “To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that.”

3. “What a great favour God does to those He places in the company of good people!”

4. “Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.”

5. "God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person."

6. "To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience."

7. "We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble."

8. "There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers."

9. "The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit."

10. "Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds. "

11. "The most potent and acceptable prayer is the prayer that leaves the best effects. I don't mean it must immediately fill the soul with desire . . . The best effects [are] those that are followed up by actions-----when the soul not only desires the honor of God, but really strives for it. "

12. "I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me."

13. "Vocal prayer . . . must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of Whom he is speaking to, what he is asking, who it is who is asking and of Whom, I don't call prayer-----however much the lips may move."

14. "Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us."

15. "You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him."

16. 'One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer. "

17. "Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end . . . and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal."

18. "Pain is never permanent."

19. "Truth suffers, but never dies."

20. "I am afraid that if we begin to put our trust in human help, some of our Divine help will fail us."

21. "Our greatest gain is to lose the wealth that is of such brief duration and, by comparison with eternal things, of such little worth; yet we get upset about it and our gain turns to loss."

22. "We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfil God's will in us."

23. "Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and there is only one Glory, which is eternal. If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing. "

24. "Christ has no body now, but yours.
    No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.
    Yours are the eyes through which
    Christ looks compassion into the world.
    Yours are the feet
    with which Christ walks to do good.
    Yours are the hands
    with which Christ blesses the world."

25. Let nothing trouble you,
    let nothing frighten you.
    All things are passing;
    God never changes.
    Patience obtains all things.
    He who possesses God lacks nothing:
    God alone suffices.