Therese Of Lisieux Quotes

“I feel in me the vocation of the Priest. I have the vocation of the Apostle. Martyrdom was the dream of my youth, and this dream has grown with me. Considering the mystical body of the Church, I desired to see myself in them all.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers, and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“The value of life does not depend upon the place we occupy. It depends upon the way we occupy that place.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Trying to do good to people without God's help is no easier than making the sun shine at midnight. You discover that you've got to abandon all your own preferences, your own bright ideas, and guide souls along the road our Lord has marked out for them. You mustn't coerce them into some path of your own choosing.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Above the clouds the sky is always blue.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be and becoming that person.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

Each small task of everyday life is part of the total harmony of the universe.

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Perfection consists in doing His will, in being that which He wants us to be.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

The loveliest materpiece of the heart of God is the love of a Mother.

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Love is a universe of its own, comprising all time and space.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“How can the good God Who loves us so much, be happy when we suffer? Never does our suffering make Him happy; but it is necessary for us, and so He sends it to us while, as it were, turning away His Face ... I assure you that it costs Him dearly to fill us with bitterness.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Perfect love means putting up with other peoples shortcomings, feeling no surprise at their weaknesses, finding encouragement even in the slightest evidence of good qualities in them.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“What offends Him and what wounds His Heart is the lack of confidence ... Your heart is made to love Jesus, to love Him passionately ... We have only the short moments of our life to love Jesus!”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“I am not afraid of a fight; I have to do my duty, come what may.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

The more one advances, the more one sees the goal is still far off. And now I am simply resigned to see myself always imperfect and in this I find my joy.

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Let us go forward in peace, our eyes upon heaven, the only one goal of our labors.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“For one pain endured with joy, we shall love the good God more forever.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“O Jesus! on this day, you have fulfilled all my desires. From now on, near the Eucharist, I shall be able To sacrifice myself in silence, to wait for Heaven in peace. Keeping myself open to the rays of the Divine Host, In this furnace of love, I shall be consumed, And like a seraphim, Lord, I shall love You.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Look at Him while He is looking at you.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

Heaven for me is hidden in a little Host Where Jesus, my Spouse, is veiled for love. I go to that Divine Furnace to draw out life, And there my Sweet Saviour listens to me night and day.

— Therese Of Lisieux

“When we yield to discouragement it is usually because we give too much thought to the past and to the future.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

My director, Jesus, does not teach me to count my acts, but to do everything for love, to refuse Him nothing, to be pleased when He gives me a chance to prove to Him that I love Him - but all this in peace - in abandonment.

— Therese Of Lisieux

I also understood that God's love shows itself just as well in the simplest soul which puts up no resistance to His grace as it does in the loftiest soul.

— Therese Of Lisieux

“(Her last words) Oh! I love Him! My God, I love You!”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Time is but a shadow, a dream; already God sees us in glory and takes joy in our eternal beatitude. How this thought helps my soul! I understand then why He lets us suffer.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“In spite of this trial, which takes all enjoyment from me, I can never the less, cry out, 'Lord, you fill me with joy in all that you do. For is there a joy greater than to suffer for love?'”

— Therese Of Lisieux

Discouragement itself is a form of pride.

— Therese Of Lisieux

“I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

The guest of our soul knows our misery; He comes to find an empty tent within us - that is all He asks.

— Therese Of Lisieux

“God would turn the world around to find suffering in order to give it to a soul upon whom He has set His Divine gaze with ineffable love.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“I realized that to become a saint one must suffer a great deal, always seek what is best, and forget oneself.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Since the age of three I have refused God nothing.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“My vocation, at last I have found it; my vocation is love.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“I felt it better to speak to God than about Him.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“What a joy to remember that she is our Mother! Since she loves us and knows our weakness, what have we to fear?”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“When Charity is deeply rooted in the soul it shows itself exteriorly: there is so gracious a way of refusing what we cannot give, that the refusal pleases as much as the gift.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“I had wondered for a long time why God had preferences and why all souls did not receive an equal amount of grace [ ... ] Jesus saw fit to enlighten me about this mystery. He set the book of nature before me and I saw that all the flowers He has created are lovely. The splendor of the rose and whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. I realized that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness and there would be no wild flowers to make the meadows gay.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

He does not call those who are worthy, but those whom He wills.

— Therese Of Lisieux

“For me to love you, Jesus, as you love me, I would have to borrow your own love and then only would I be at rest.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Let us rise above the things that pass away. Up above, the air is so pure. Jesus can hide Himself but we will find Him there.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“(On entering Carmel) I came to save souls and especially to pray for priests.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“If you are willing to bear serenely the trial of being displeasing to yourself, then you will be for Jesus a pleasant place of shelter.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“I am simply content to find myself always imperfect, and in this I find my joy. Good deeds count as nothing, if done without love.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Love is the Cross, and the Cross is Love.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“At last there dawned the most beautiful day of all the days of my life. How perfectly I remember even the smallest details of those sacred hours! The joyful awakening, the reverent and tender embraces of my mistresses and older companions, the room filled with white frocks, like so many snowflakes, where each child was dressed in turn.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“I would prefer a thousand times to receive reproofs than to give them to others ...”

— Therese Of Lisieux

The storm thunders at my heart; I find it difficult to believe in the existence of anything except the clouds which limit my horizon.

— Therese Of Lisieux

“The great majority of men use their own short-sighted ideas as a yardstick for measuring the divine omnipotence.”

— Therese Of Lisieux

“Remember that in ascending to the Father You could not leave us orphans; And in making yourself a prisoner on earth You knew to veil all your divine rays. But the shadow of your veil is luminous and pure. Living Bread of faith, Celestial Food, O mystery of love! My daily Bread, Jesus, is You! ... Jesus, it is you who, despite the blasphemies Of the enemies of the Sacrament of love, It is you who want to show how much you love me, Since you make your dwelling in my heart. O Bread of the exiled! Holy and Divine Host, It is no longer I who live, but I live on your life”

— Therese Of Lisieux