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Do not think you have gained a virtue unless you have first been tried by its opposite.

Teresa of Avila

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Teresa of Avila
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More quotes by Teresa of Avila

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What misery to live in this world! We are like men whose enemies are at the door, who must not lay aside their arms, even while sleeping or eating, and are always in dread lest the foe should enter the fortress by some breach in the walls. O my Lord and my all! How canst thou wish us to prize such a wretched existence?
Teresa of Avila
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How friendly all men would be one with another, if no regard were paid to honour and money! I believe it would be a remedy for everything.
Teresa of Avila
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Out of suffering comes the serious mind out of salvation, the grateful heart out of endurance, fortitude out of deliverance faith. Patient endurance attends to all things.
Teresa of Avila
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Thank God for the things that I do not own.
Teresa of Avila
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That is how His Majesty [the Lord] rewards our good works---I mean, by predisposing us to perform better ones.
Teresa of Avila
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Her heart is full of joy with love, for in the Lord her mind is stilled. She has renounced every selfish attachment and draws abiding joy and strength from the One within. She lives not for herself, but lives to serve the Lord of Love in all, and swims across the sea of life breasting its rough waves joyfully.
Teresa of Avila
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I was living an extremely burdensome life, because every time I prayed, I became more clearly aware of my faults. On the one hand, God was calling me. On the other, I was following the way of the world. Doing what God wanted made me happy but I felt bound by the things of this world.
Teresa of Avila
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The surest way to determine whether one possesses the love of God is to see whether he or she loves his or her neighbor. These two loves are never separated. Rest assured, the more you progress in love of neighbor the more your love of God will increase.
Teresa of Avila
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It should be observed that perfect love of God consists not in those delights, tears and sentiments of devotion that we generally seek, but in a strong determination and keen desire to please God in all things, and to promote His glory.
Teresa of Avila
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Happy the heart where love has come to birth.
Teresa of Avila
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About the injunction of the Apostle Paul that women should keep silent in church? Don't go by one text only.
Teresa of Avila
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Everything seems to me to pass so quickly that we must concentrate on how to die rather than on how to live. How sweet it is to die if one has lived on the Cross with Christ.
Teresa of Avila
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Nothing can be compared to the great beauty and capabilities of a soul however keen our intellects may be, they are as unable to comprehend them as to comprehend God, for, as He has told us, He created us in His own image and likeness.
Teresa of Avila
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Anyone who has the habit of speaking before God's majesty as if he were speaking to a slave, careless about how he is speaking, and saying whatever comes into his head and whatever he's learned from saying prayers at other times, in my opinion is not praying. Please, God, may no Christian pray in this way.
Teresa of Avila
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God has no hands or feet or voice except ours and through these He works.
Teresa of Avila
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I have often thought with wonder of the great goodness of God and my soul has rejoiced in the contemplation of His great magnificence and mercy. May He be blessed for ever! For I see clearly that He has not omitted to reward me, even in this life, for every one of my good desires.
Teresa of Avila
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Discontent with this world gives such a painful longing to quit it that, if the heart finds comfort, it is solely from the thought that God wishes it to remain here in banishment.
Teresa of Avila
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I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me.
Teresa of Avila
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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. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.
Teresa of Avila
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What friends or kindred can be so close and intimate as the powers of our soul, which, whether we will or no, must ever bear us company?
Teresa of Avila