All Time Famous Mother Teresa Quotes

Mother Teresa (1910–1997), born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje (now North Macedonia), was a Catholic nun and missionary dedicated to humanitarian work. After joining the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland, she arrived in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1929, where she founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. Devoting her life to serving the impoverished and destitute, Mother Teresa established orphanages, hospices, and centers for those in need globally. Recognized for her selfless compassion and unwavering commitment, she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Despite criticism and controversy, her impact on alleviating human suffering and promoting kindness endures. Mother Teresa’s canonization as a saint by the Catholic Church in 2016 reflects her lasting legacy as a symbol of love and service to the less fortunate.

Mother Teresa Quotes

1. “Peace begins with a smile.”
— Mother Teresa

2. “Life is a game, play it.”
— Mother Teresa

3. “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
— Mother Teresa

4. “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
— Mother Teresa

5. “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
— Mother Teresa

6. “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
— Mother Teresa

7. “Work without love is slavery.”
— Mother Teresa

8. “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”
— Mother Teresa

9. “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
— Mother Teresa

10. “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
— Mother Teresa

11. “Do small things, with great love.”
— Mother Teresa

12. “Without patience, we will learn less in life. We will see less. We will feel less. We will hear less. Ironically, rush and more usually mean less.”
— Mother Teresa

13. “Live simply so others may simply live.”
— Mother Teresa

14. “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
— Mother Teresa

15. “Together we can do great things.”
— Mother Teresa

16. “If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive.”
— Mother Teresa

17. “We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.”
— Mother Teresa

18. “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
— Mother Teresa

19. “Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.”
— Mother Teresa

20. “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”
— Mother Teresa

21. “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”
— Mother Teresa

22. “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”
— Mother Teresa

23. “We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing.”
— Mother Teresa

24. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
— Mother Teresa

25. “Helping hands are better than Praying Lips.”
— Mother Teresa

26. “God speaks in the silence of the heart.”
— Mother Teresa

27. “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”
— Mother Teresa

28. “Prayer in action is love, love in action is service.”
— Mother Teresa

29. “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.”
— Mother Teresa

30. “Give your hands to serve and your hearts to love.”
— Mother Teresa

31. “Some people come in our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons.”
— Mother Teresa

32. “People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.”
— Mother Teresa

33. “If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”
— Mother Teresa

34. “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.”
— Mother Teresa

35. “God doesn’t require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.”
— Mother Teresa

36. “I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.”
— Mother Teresa

37. “Your true character Is most accurately measured by how you treat those who can do ‘Nothing’ for you.”
— Mother Teresa

38. “Never be so busy as not to think of others.”
— Mother Teresa

39. “Love to be real, it must cost – it must hurt – it must empty us of self.”
— Mother Teresa

40. “If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.”
— Mother Teresa

41. “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
— Mother Teresa

42. “If we pray, we will believe; If we believe, we will love; If we love, we will serve.”
— Mother Teresa

43. “Intense love does not measure, it just gives.”
— Mother Teresa

44. “Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home.”
— Mother Teresa

45. “Give, but give until it hurts.”
— Mother Teresa

46. “Let’s do something beautiful for God.”
— Mother Teresa

47. “We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
— Mother Teresa

48. “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.”
— Mother Teresa

49. “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.”
— Mother Teresa

50. “The greatest science in the world; in heaven and on earth; is love.”
— Mother Teresa

51. “We have only today. Let us begin.”
— Mother Teresa

52. “Listen in silence because if your heart is full of other things you cannot hear the voice of God.”
— Mother Teresa

53. “The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”
— Mother Teresa

54. “What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight; build it anyway.”
— Mother Teresa

55. “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.”
— Mother Teresa

56. “Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.”
— Mother Teresa

57. “I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.”
— Mother Teresa

58. “Jesus said love one another. He didn’t say love the whole world.”
— Mother Teresa

59. “A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, and must empty ourselves. Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in his love than in your weakness.”
— Mother Teresa

60. “I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.”
— Mother Teresa

61. “May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.”
— Mother Teresa

62. “It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.”
— Mother Teresa

63. “Joy is a net of love in which you can catch souls.”
— Mother Teresa

64. “Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly.”
— Mother Teresa

65. “The person who gives with a smile is the best giver because God loves a cheerful giver.”
— Mother Teresa

66. “Spread the love of God through your life but only use words when necessary.”
— Mother Teresa

67. “God gives us things to share, God doesn’t give us things to hold…”
— Mother Teresa

68. “When you don’t have anything, then you have everything.”
— Mother Teresa

69. “Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.”
— Mother Teresa

70. “There are many people who can do big things, but there are very few people who will do the small things.”
— Mother Teresa

71. “In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.”
— Mother Teresa

72. “Do you want to do something beautiful for God? There is a person who needs you. This is your chance.”
— Mother Teresa

73. “Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus – a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you.”
— Mother Teresa

74. “Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary.”
— Mother Teresa

75. “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”
— Mother Teresa

76. “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”
— Mother Teresa

77. “The true way and the sure way to friendship is through humility-being open to each other, accepting each other just as we are, knowing each other.”
— Mother Teresa

78. “Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.”
— Mother Teresa

79. “Smile at each other. Smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other – it doesn’t matter who it is – and that will help to grow up in greater love for each other.”
— Mother Teresa

80. “The Simple Path Silence is Prayer Prayer is Faith Faith is Love Love is Service The Fruit of Service is Peace.”
— Mother Teresa

81. “The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.”
— Mother Teresa

82. “It is a kingly act to assist the fallen.”
— Mother Teresa

83. “Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your heart to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.”
— Mother Teresa

84. “Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where you are.”
— Mother Teresa

85. “Love is not patronizing and charity isn’t about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same – with charity you give love, so don’t just give money but reach out your hand instead.”
— Mother Teresa

86. “I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me, and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.”
— Mother Teresa

87. “The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
— Mother Teresa

88. “I pray that you will understand the words of Jesus, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Ask yourself “How has he loved me? Do I really love others in the same way?” Unless this love is among us, we can kill ourselves with work and it will only be work, not love. Work without love is slavery.”
— Mother Teresa

89. “Faith keeps the person who keeps the faith.”
— Mother Teresa

90. “How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.”
— Mother Teresa

91. “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”
— Mother Teresa

92. “Whatever religion we are, we must pray together.”
— Mother Teresa

93. “Hungry for love, He looks at you. Thirsty for kindness, He begs of you. Naked for loyalty, He hopes in you. Homeless for shelter in your heart, He asks of you. Will you be that one to Him?”
— Mother Teresa

94. “Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life.”
— Mother Teresa

95. “Faith in action is love and love in action is service. By transforming that faith into living acts of love, we put ourselves in contact with God Himself, with Jesus our Lord.”
— Mother Teresa

96. “Prayer is the mortar that holds our house together.”
— Mother Teresa

97. “A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. She gives most who gives with joy.”
— Mother Teresa

98. “It’s not about how much you do, but how much love you put into what you do that counts. Life isn’t worth living unless lived for other people.”
— Mother Teresa

99. “In vocal prayer, we speak to God; in mental prayer, he speaks to us. It is then that God pours Himself into us.”
— Mother Teresa

100. “Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
— Mother Teresa

101. “God didn’t call me to be successful, He called me to be faithful.”
— Mother Teresa

102. “Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.”
— Mother Teresa

103. “One thing will always secure heaven for us-the acts of charity and kindness with which we have filled our lives. We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”
— Mother Teresa

104. “If I look at the mass I will never act.”
— Mother Teresa

105. “The fruit of love is service, which is compassion in action.”
— Mother Teresa

106. “Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you.”
— Mother Teresa

107. “The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.”
— Mother Teresa

108. “There is no key to happiness; the door is always open.”
— Mother Teresa

109. “There should be less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone’s house. That says enough.”
— Mother Teresa

110. “Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”
— Mother Teresa

111. “I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.”
— Mother Teresa

112. “My secret is simple – I pray.”
— Mother Teresa

113. “Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it.”
— Mother Teresa

114. “Only humility will lead us to unity, and unity to peace.”
— Mother Teresa

115. “It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.”
— Mother Teresa

116. “Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity.”
— Mother Teresa

117. “One thing that I ask of you: Never be afraid of giving. There is a deep joy in giving, since what we receive is much more than what we give.”
— Mother Teresa

118. “If each of us would only sweep our own doorstep, the whole World would be clean.”
— Mother Teresa

119. “The problem with the world is that we draw the circle of our family too small.”
— Mother Teresa

120. “I am a little pencil in God’s hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more.”
— Mother Teresa

121. “The greatest good is what we do for others.”
— Mother Teresa

122. “If I ever become a Saint – I will surely be one of “darkness.” I will continually be absent from heaven – to light the light of those in darkness on earth.”
— Mother Teresa

123. “Do not worry about your career. Concern yourself with your vocation, and that is to be lovers of Jesus.”
— Mother Teresa

124. “Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service. Whatever form we are, able or disabled, rich or poor, it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing; a lifelong sharing of love with others.”
— Mother Teresa

125. “Love until it hurts. Real love is always painful and hurts: then it is real and pure.”
— Mother Teresa

126. “Saints are only sinners who keep trying.”
— Mother Teresa

127. “Be a living expression of God’s kindness.”
— Mother Teresa

128. “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.”
— Mother Teresa

129. “Gratitude to God is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy.”
— Mother Teresa

130. “When you know how much God is in love with you then you can only live your life radiating that love.”
— Mother Teresa

131. “To love others as God loves you, that is the measure of success.”
— Mother Teresa

132. “I am nothing; I am but an instrument, a tiny pencil in the hands of the Lord with which He writes what he likes. However imperfect we are, he writes beautifully.”
— Mother Teresa

133. “Life is not worth living unless it is lived for others.”
— Mother Teresa

134. “There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter.”
— Mother Teresa

135. “Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.”
— Mother Teresa

136. “Speak tenderly; 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.”
— Mother Teresa

137. “Everybody has something good inside them. Some hide it, some neglect it, but it is there.”
— Mother Teresa

138. “Be faithful in the little things.”
— Mother Teresa

139. “Charity isn’t about pity, it is about love.”
— Mother Teresa

140. “Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me.”
— Mother Teresa

141. “Be humble like Mary so that you can be holy like Jesus.”
— Mother Teresa

142. “We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.”
— Mother Teresa

143. “Just show up and things will happen.”
— Mother Teresa

144. “The child is the beauty of God present in the world, that greatest gift to a family.”
— Mother Teresa

145. “A joyful heart is like the sunshine of God’s love, the hope of eternal happiness.”
— Mother Teresa

146. “Prayer is the breath of life to our soul; holiness is impossible without it.”
— Mother Teresa

147. “Go out into the world today and love the people you meet. Let your presence light new light in the hearts of people.”
— Mother Teresa

148. “At this Christmas when Christ comes, will He find a warm heart? Mark the season of Advent by loving and serving others with God’s own love and concern.”
— Mother Teresa

149. “I think it is very good when people suffer. To me, that is like the kiss of Jesus.”
— Mother Teresa

150. “Every day I see Jesus Christ in all his distressing disguises.”
— Mother Teresa

151. “It’s only a drop in the ocean – but the ocean wouldn’t be the same without that drop.”
— Mother Teresa

152. “If you hold an anti-war rally, I shall not attend. But if you hold a Pro-Peace rally invite me.”
— Mother Teresa

153. “A smile is the beginning of peace.”
— Mother Teresa

154. “Death is nothing else but going home to God, the bond of love will be unbroken for all eternity.”
— Mother Teresa

155. “The openness of our hearts and minds can be measured by how wide we draw the circle of what we call family.”
— Mother Teresa

156. “Seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, all the time, and his hand in every happening; This is what it means to be contemplative in the heart of the world. Seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor.”
— Mother Teresa

157. “I am Albanian by birth. Now I am a citizen of India. I am also a Catholic nun. In my work, I belong to the whole world. But in my heart, I belong to Christ.”
— Mother Teresa

158. “Justice without love is not justice. Love without justice is not love.”
— Mother Teresa

159. “I fear just one thing: Money! Greed was what motivated Judas to sell Jesus.”
— Mother Teresa

160. “Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen.”
— Mother Teresa

161. “Be faithful in the little things, for in them our strength lies. To the good God, nothing is little, because He is so great and we are so small.”
— Mother Teresa

162. “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”
— Mother Teresa

163. “We are all pencils in the hand of God.”
— Mother Teresa

164. “Don’t expect your friend to be a perfect person. Help your friend to become a perfect person. That is true friendship.”
— Mother Teresa

165. “It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you.”
— Mother Teresa

166. “Seek not to change the world, but choose to change your mind about the world. What you see reflects your thinking. And your thinking but reflects your choice of what you want to see. If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
— Mother Teresa

167. “Life is beauty admire it!”
— Mother Teresa

168. “There are no great acts, only small acts done with great love.”
— Mother Teresa

169. “Do not let the past disturb you, just leave everything in the Sacred Heart and begin again with joy.”
— Mother Teresa

170. “I will not pray clarity for you. Clarity is the crutch of the Christian. But I will pray trust for you, that your trust will increase.”
— Mother Teresa

171. “Life is a promise; fulfill it.”
— Mother Teresa

172. “People are not hungry just for bread, they are hungry for love.”
— Mother Teresa

173. “Holiness grows so fast where there is kindness. The world is lost for want of sweetness and kindness. Do not forget we need each other.”
— Mother Teresa

174. “I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence-we need to listen to God because it’s not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters.”
— Mother Teresa

175. “God loves the world through us.”
— Mother Teresa

176. “Today, if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other-that man, that woman, that child is my brother or my sister. If everyone could see the image of God in his neighbor, do you think we would still need tanks and generals?”
— Mother Teresa

177. “Abortion kills twice. It kills the body of the baby and it kills the conscience of the mother. Abortion is profoundly anti-women. Three-quarters of its victims are women: Half the babies and all the mothers.”
— Mother Teresa

178. “People who love each other fully and truly are the happiest people in the world. They may have little, they may have nothing, but they are happy people. Everything depends on how we love one another.”
— Mother Teresa

179. “I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper’s wounds I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?”
— Mother Teresa

180. “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you will trust God.”
— Mother Teresa

181. “Do you want to be great? Pick up a broom and sweep the floor.”
— Mother Teresa

182. “We are not social workers. We are contemplatives in the heart of the world.”
— Mother Teresa

183. “A day lived without doing something good for others is a day not worth living.”
— Mother Teresa

184. “There’s nothing more calming in difficult moments that knowing there’s someone fighting with you.”
— Mother Teresa

185. “I see God in every human being.”
— Mother Teresa

186. “I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.”
— Mother Teresa

187. “If you ever feel distressed during your day – call upon our Lady – just say this simple prayer: ‘Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.’ I must admit – this prayer has never failed me.”
— Mother Teresa

188. “Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best.”
— Mother Teresa

189. “Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway.”
— Mother Teresa

190. “Where does love begin? In our own homes. When does it begin? When we pray together. The family that prays together stays together.”
— Mother Teresa

191. “Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration with exposition needs a great push. People ask me: ‘What will convert America and save the world?’ My answer is prayer. What we need is for every parish to come before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in holy hours of prayer.”
— Mother Teresa

192. “Prayer to be fruitful must come from the heart and must be able to touch the heart of God.”
— Mother Teresa

193. “If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.”
— Mother Teresa

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

195. “Like Jesus, we belong to the world living not for ourselves but for others. The joy of the Lord is our strength.”
— Mother Teresa

196. “We must make our homes centers of compassion and forgive endlessly.”
— Mother Teresa

197. “I am only a little pencil in the hand of our Lord. He may cut or sharpen the pencil. He may write or draw whatever and whenever he wants. If the writing or drawing is good, we do not honor the pencil or the material that is used, but rather the one who used it.”
— Mother Teresa

198. “Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action and that action is service.”
— Mother Teresa

199. “Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.”
— Mother Teresa

200. “Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then love more.”
— Mother Teresa