To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.
More quotes from Saint Teresa of Avila
Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds.
God gave us faculties for our use; each of them will receive its proper reward. Then do not let us try to charm them to sleep, but permit them to do their work until divinely called to something higher.
Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.
God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person.
It is here, my daughters, that love is to be found – not hidden away in corners but in the midst of occasions of sin. And believe me, although we may more often fail and commit small lapses, our gain will be incomparably the greater.
The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit.
O my God, what must a soul be like when it is in this state! It longs to be all one tongue with which to praise the Lord. It utters a thousand pious follies, in a continuous endeavor to please Him who thus possesses it.
To have courage for whatever comes in life – everything lies in that.
We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can – namely, surrender our will and fulfill God’s will in us.
All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted.
Pain is never permanent.
There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.
To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.
The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too.
I do not fear Satan half so much as I fear those who fear him.