85 Mother Teresa Quotes On Love, Generosity, Kindness

By Maxime Lagacé

Maxime is the founder of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.

Here are 85 of the most inspiring Mother Teresa quotes I could find. What’s the goal? To inspire you and show you the power of generosity, love, and kindness. Enjoy!

mother teresa quotes you judge people have time love them wisdom

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. Mother Teresa

mother teresa quotes want change world home love your family wisdom

If you want to change the world, go home and love your family. Mother Teresa

mother teresa quotes people unrealistic illogical self centered love them anyway wisdom

People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway. Mother Teresa

mother teresa quotes not how much give love put into giving wisdom

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

mother teresa quotes kind words can be short easy speak their echoes endless wisdom

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless. Mother Teresa

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mother teresa quotes god doesnt require succeed only try wisdom

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

mother teresa quotes not all can great things small love wisdom

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

mother teresa quotes worry too much about ourselves wont have time others wisdom

If we worry too much about ourselves, we won’t have time for others. Mother Teresa

mother teresa quotes some people come life blessings lessons wisdom

Some people come in our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons. Mother Teresa

mother teresa quotes spend years building destroyed overnight build anyway wisdom

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

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mother teresa quotes first step becoming will wisdom

The first step to becoming is to will it. Mother Teresa

mother teresa quotes prayer action love service wisdom

Prayer in action is love, love in action is service. Mother Teresa

mother teresa quotes fruit love service compassion action wisdom

The fruit of love is service, which is compassion in action. Mother Teresa

mother teresa quotes never worry about numbers help one person time always start nearest wisdom

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

mother teresa quotes life song sing struggle accept wisdom

Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Mother Teresa

Related

Quick facts
Name at birth: Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu
Also known as Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu
Place: Skopje, Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997 (aged 87)
Occupation: Roman Catholic nun and missionary
Received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979
More Mother Teresa facts (Wikipedia page)

The Best Mother Teresa Quotes

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mother teresa quotes not wait leaders alone person wisdom

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

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.

Intense love does not measure, it just gives.

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.

I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.

It is a kingly act to assist the fallen.

mother teresa quotes not pray success ask faithfulness wisdom

I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.

The success of love is in the loving – it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done.

Do ordinary things with extraordinary love.

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How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.

The problem with the world is that we draw the circle of our family too small.

Do not worry about why problems exist in the world – just respond to people’s needs.

mother teresa quotes really want love must learn how forgive wisdom

If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive.

Love to be real, it must cost — it must hurt — it must empty us of self.

Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.

A life not lived for others is not a life.

Keep the corners of your mouth turned up. Speak in a low, persuasive tone. Listen; be teachable. Laugh at good stories and learn to tell them…For as long as you are green, you can grow.

I fear just one thing: Money! Greed was what motivated Judas to sell Jesus.

Part 2. Mother Teresa Quotes That Are…

The Most Famous Mother Teresa Quotes

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mother teresa quotes peace begins smile wisdom

Peace begins with a smile.

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.

The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.

mother teresa quotes cant feed hundred people just one wisdom

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

Live simply so others may simply live.

One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.

Please choose the way of peace. In the short term there may be winners and losers in this war that we all dread. But that never can, or never will justify the suffering, pain and loss of life your weapons will cause.

Work without love is slavery.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

Inspirational Mother Teresa Quotes

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mother teresa quotes life challenge must take wisdom

Life is a challenge, we must take it.

We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.

Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly.

Joy is a net of love in which you can catch souls.

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.

mother teresa quotes love cannot remain itself meaning action service wisdom

Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service.

I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, “How many good things have you done in your life?” rather he will ask, “How much love did you put into what you did?”

It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself.

Jesus said love one another. He didn’t say love the whole world.

I am only a pencil in the hand of God, but it is He who writes.

What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.

The less we have, the more we give. Seems absurd, but it’s the logic of love.

mother teresa quotes life opportunity benefit from beauty admire dream realize wisdom

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it.

There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter.

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.

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.

I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use.

Sometimes a good feeling from inside is worth much more than a beautician.

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.

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Wise Mother Teresa Quotes

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mother teresa quotes pray will believe love serve mother teresa wisdom

If we pray, we will believe; If we believe, we will love; If we love, we will serve.

If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.

Keep in mind that our community is not composed of those who are already saints, but of those who are trying to become saints. Therefore let us be extremely patient with each other’s faults and failures. Mother Teresa

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

We fear the future because we are wasting today.

Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life.

mother teresa quotes have peace because forgotten belong each other wisdom

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home.

If I look at the mass I will never act.

These are the few ways we can practice humility: To speak as little as possible of one’s self. To mind one’s own business. Not to want to manage other people’s affairs. To avoid curiosity. To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully. To pass over the mistakes of others. To accept insults and injuries. To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked. To be kind and gentle even under provocation. Never to stand on one’s dignity. To choose always the hardest.

When you don’t have anything, then you have everything.

I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.

mother teresa quotes even rich hunger love being cared wanted having someone call wisdom

Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.

Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world.

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.

Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.

Related: Mother Teresa, the nun who became a saint (4-minute video by bbc.com)

Part 3. Conclusion

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mother teresa quotes need silence able touch souls wisdom

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.

After all these beautiful quotes by Mother Teresa, if you still find it hard to be faithful, keep in mind that she, herself, had difficulties too sometimes.

Where is my faith? Even deep down … there is nothing but emptiness and darkness. … If there be God – please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul.

Further Readings

I hope you enjoyed these inspiring Mother Teresa quotes. If you did, please share them with a friend today!

What’s your favorite Mother Teresa quote? And remember: words can transform your life, if you find the right ones.

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Author Bio

maxime lagace

Maxime Lagacé started collecting quotes in 2004 after he lost his girlfriend in a car accident.

In search of meaning, he dived in the self-improvement world, psychology and trail running.

Books, blogs, quotes and nature became his guide.

He started journaling, reflecting, writing his thoughts, feelings and quotes.

His goal was to understand his pain, his depression, his fears, his lack of motivation and inspiration.

He finished his software engineering degree in 2007 at the École de Technologie Supérieure de Montréal.

A few years later, he started his first website to share his love of quotes.

Maxime is a father of two, husband, and INFJ.

Other notable interests of Maxime are health (mental and physical), meditation, bananas, SEO, human potential, and education.

You can find him on X, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube.

Last update

February 14, 2022

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