She’s an icon famous for having said plenty about love, happiness, faith, kindness, relationships and other areas of life. Each one will make you think—and some of Mother Teresa’s famous quotes may even teach you a lesson. After reading through them, you’ll understand why she is admired by so many and you’ll find yourself appreciating life more. So what are you waiting for? Check out all 100 of the best Mother Teresa quotes and sayings below.

Inspirational Mother Teresa Quotes  

  1. “Peace begins with a smile.”
  2. “We fear the future because we are wasting today.”
  3. “When you don’t have anything, then you have everything.”
  4. “Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life.”
  5. “Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home.”
  6. “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”
  7. “Some people come in our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons.”
  8. “If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.”
  9. “A life not lived for others is not a life.”
  10. “I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.”
  11. “Love is a fruit in season at all times and within reach of every hand.”
  12. “Work without love is slavery.”
  13. “I want you to be concerned about your next-door neighbor. Do you know your next-door neighbor?”
  14. “Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.”
  15. “‎Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”
  16. “There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”
  17. “If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.”
  18. “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”
  19. “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”
  20. “What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight; build it anyway.”
  21. “I go of my free choice, with the blessing of obedience.”
  22. “Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it.”
  23. “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.”
  24. “There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those.”
  25. “If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.”
  26. “Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.”
  27. “One of the realities we’re all called to go through is to move from repulsion to compassion and from compassion to wonderment.”
  28. “We cannot give what we have not got."
  29. “If we are humble, nothing will change us, neither praise, nor discouragement.”
  30. “Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it.”
  31. “Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.”
  32. “Together we can do great things.”
  33. “Life is a challenge; we must take it.”
  34. “Spread the love of God through your life but only use words when necessary.”
  35. “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
  36. “Poverty was not created by God. It is we who have caused it, you and I through our egotism.”
  37. “There is thing you can do but I cannot and there is thing I can but you cannot; so, let us make something beautiful for God.”
  38. “If you are discouraged, it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own powers.”
  39. “We interfere with God’s plans when we push in someone or something else not suitable for us. Be strict with yourself, and then be very strict with what you are receiving from the outside.”
  40. “Life’s a song, sing it.”
  41. “One filled with the joy preaches without preaching.”
  42. “Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you’ve got anyway.”
  43. “I do not pray for success; I ask for faithfulness.”
  44. “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
  45. “I know I am touching the living body of Christ in the broken bodies of the hungry and the suffering.”
  46. “We must never be afraid to be a sign of contradiction for the world.”
  47. “The fruit of love is service, which is compassion in action.
  48. “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”
  49. “Loneliness is the most terrible form of poverty.
  50. “Jesus said love one another. He didn’t say love the whole world.”
  51. “We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.”
  52. “Do extraordinary things with love.”
  53. “True love is giving and giving until it hurts.”
  54. “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.”
  55. “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.”
  56. “You are greater than you know.”
  57. “The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.”
  58. “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
  59. “Go out into the world today and love the people you meet. Let your presence light new light in the hearts of people.”
  60. “God speaks in the silence of the heart.”
  61. “Whenever you share love with others, you’ll notice the peace that comes to you and to them.
  62. “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.”
  63. “Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”
  64. “I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.”
  65. “Life is a game, play it… Life is too precious, do not destroy it.”
  66. “Do ordinary things with extraordinary love.”
  67. “We must make our homes centers of compassion and forgive endlessly.”
  68. “Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen.”
  69. “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”
  70. “The best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice we give to others.”
  71. “In order to keep the lamp burning you have to keep putting the oil in it.”
  72. “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.”
  73. “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.”
  74. “One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.”
  75. “We have to possess before we can give.”
  76. “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”
  77. “If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway.”
  78. “If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway.”
  79. “I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.”
  80. “Live simply so others may simply live.”
  81. “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.”
  82. “God is everywhere and in everything and without Him we cannot exist.”
  83. “Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.”
  84. “He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your weakness.”
  85. “May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.”
  86. “The first requirement for prayer is silence. People of prayer are people of silence.”
  87. “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 them from God.” 88. “Although she be but little, she is fierce.”
  88. “I don’t do great things. I do small things with great love.”
  89. “Words that do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.”
  90. “The openness of our hearts and minds can be measured by how wide we draw the circle of what we call family.”
  91. “If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.”
  92. “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love but to use violence to get what they want.”
  93. “Not handouts, but rather hands held.”
  94. “The problem with the world is that we draw the circle of our family too small.”
  95. “Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.”
  96. “If now we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten how to see God in one another.”
  97. “There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter.”
  98. “We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.”
  99. “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Check out…Life QuotesRomantic Love QuotesNot Giving Up QuotesQuotes About ChangeStay Positive Quotes

100 Touching Mother Teresa Quotes and Sayings - 40100 Touching Mother Teresa Quotes and Sayings - 40100 Touching Mother Teresa Quotes and Sayings - 83100 Touching Mother Teresa Quotes and Sayings - 52100 Touching Mother Teresa Quotes and Sayings - 78100 Touching Mother Teresa Quotes and Sayings - 14