1) “I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No. I wouldn’t touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.”

Malcolm Muggeridge, “Mother Teresa of Calcutta, A Gift For God: Prayers and Meditations”

2) “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.”

Malcolm Muggeridge, “Something Beautiful for God”

3) “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”

Mary Alice Warner, ‎Dayna Beilenson “Women of faith and spirit: their words & thoughts”

Juan Jaime de Zengotita / Flickr
Juan Jaime de Zengotita / Flickr

4) “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”

Interview by Edward W. Desmond in TIME magazine (December, 4th 1989)

5) “But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”

National Prayer Breakfast speech, Washington, D.C. (February 3rd, 1994)

6) “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. “

National Prayer Breakfast speech, Washington, D.C. (February 3rd, 1994)

Evert Odekerken / Wikimedia Commons
Evert Odekerken / Wikimedia Commons

7) “Many people are very, very concerned with the children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger, and so on. Many people are also concerned about all the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions who are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is what is the greatest destroyer of peace today — abortion which brings people to such blindness.”

National Prayer Breakfast speech, Washington, D.C. (February 3rd, 1994)

8) “Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.”

John Templeton, “Worldwide Laws of Life : 200 Eternal Spiritual Principles‎”

9) “I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I do 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?”

W. B. Freeman, “God’s Little Devotional Book for Girls”

The last meeting between Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day / Jim Forest / Flickr
The last meeting between Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day, in 1979 / Jim Forest / Flickr

10) “Don’t look for big things, just do small things with great love….The smaller the thing, the greater must be our love.”

Brian Kolodiejchuk, “Mother Teresa : Come Be My Light”

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

“Mother Teresa Reflects on Working Toward Peace”

12) “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?”

1974 interview

An exhibit on Mother Teresa in the UK / Catholic Church England and Wales / Flickr
An exhibit on Mother Teresa in the UK / Catholic Church England and Wales / Flickr

13) “We may be doing social work in the eyes of the people, but we are really contemplatives in the heart of the world. For we are touching the Body of Christ 24 hours. We have 24 hours in this presence, and so you and I.”

Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech (December 11th, 1979)

14) “Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the action that we do. […] I want you to find the poor here, right in your own home first. And begin love there.”

Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech (December 11th, 1979)

15) “Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart.”

EWTN

16) “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

EWTN

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