Teresa of Avila Quotes on Virtue
Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) — the Spanish Carmelite mystic and reformer of the order who collaborated with John of the Cross — gave sixteenth-century Catholic mystical theology its most influential treatment of the virtues required for the contemplative ascent. The Way of Perfection (Camino de perfección, 1566) and The Interior Castle (Las moradas, 1577) develop the central account of the seven mansions of the soul through which the contemplative is led toward mystical union, with the corresponding cardinal virtues — humility, detachment, fraternal charity, and prayer — analyzed as the daily disciplines of the religious life that prepare the soul for the higher mystical gifts. The framework, integrating the Carmelite contemplative tradition with the Thomist anthropology and the practical sense developed across the long pastoral life of Teresa’s monastic foundations, shaped subsequent Catholic mystical theology through the Doctors of the Church (Teresa was named the first woman Doctor in 1970) and the broader contemplative renewal.
Quotes
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Attributed to Teresa of Avila:
“Christ has no body now but yours; no hands, no feet on earth, but yours.”
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Attributed to Teresa of Avila:
“Patience obtains all things.”
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Attributed to Teresa of Avila:
“Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing; God never changes.”
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“It is love alone that gives worth to all things.”
V: Loving complaints and petitions; Martha's complaint," in The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila Vol. 1, p. 379. -
“To have courage for whatever comes in life — everything lies in that.”
As quoted in The Little Lamp (1981) by Eknath Easwaran, p. 80 -
“He who cares nothing for the good things of the world has dominion over them all.”
The Way of Perfection , p. 41