St Therese of Lisieux Quotes From the Little Flower
Here are some of St. Therese of Lisieux’s most renowned quotes. St. Therese of Lisieux is a patron saint for missionaries, aviators, and florists. She is also known as The Little Flower of Jesus, The Holy Face, and St. Therese of the Child Jesus.
Quotes from St Therese of Lisieux
Here are some of St. Therese of Lisieux’s most renowned quotes:
1. “The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily
do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm.
If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”
2. “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
3. “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”
4. “Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.”
5. “The world’s thy ship and not thy home.”
6. “If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”
7. “God would never inspire me with desires which cannot be realized; so in spite of my littleness, I can hope to be a saint.”
8. “Holiness consists simply in doing God’s will, and being just what God wants us to be.” St Therese of Lisieux quotes.
9. “When one loves, one does not calculate.”
10. “I understood every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy.
I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enameled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord’s living garden.”
11. “A word or a smile is often enough to put fresh life in a despondent soul.”
12. “It’s true, I suffer a great deal–but do I suffer well? That is the question.”
13. “I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbors’ defects–not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.”
14. “When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens, I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth.”
15. “Do you realize Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you- For you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart… don’t listen to the demon, laugh at him, and go without fear receiving the Jesus of peace and love…”
16. “If a little flower could speak, it would tell us simply all that God has done for it, hiding none of its gifts.
It would not, under the pretext of humility, say that it was not pretty, or that it had not a sweet scent, that the sun had withered its petals, or the storm bruised its stem if it knew that such were not the case.”
17. “Trust and trust alone should lead us to love”
18. “If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient, but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future.”
19. “My total strength lies in prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words, I know it by experience.”
20. “It is better to leave each one in his own opinion than to enter arguments.”
21. “Then, overcome by joy, I cried, ‘Jesus, my love. At last, I have found my vocation. My vocation is love. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and then I will be all things.”
22. “And it is the Lord, it is Jesus, Who is my judge. Therefore, I will try always to think leniently of others, that He may judge me leniently, or rather not at all since He says: “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged.”
23. “A soul in a state of grace has nothing to fear of demons who are cowards.”
24. “For me, prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy; finally it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.”
25. “I can nourish myself on nothing but truth”
26. “I know now that true charity consists of bearing all our neighbors’ defects–not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.” St Therese of Lisieux quotes.
27. “La joie réside au plus intime de l’âme; on peut aussi bien la posséder dans une obscure prison que dans un palais.”
28. “Another time I was working in the laundry, and the Sister opposite, while washing handkerchiefs, repeatedly splashed me with dirty water.
My first impulse was to draw back and wipe my face, to show the offender I should be glad if she would behave more quietly; but the next minute I thought how foolish it was to refuse the treasures God offered me so generously, and I refrained from betraying my annoyance.
I made such efforts to welcome the shower of dirty water, that at the end of half an hour I had taken quite a fancy to this novel aspersion, and I resolved to come as often as I could to the happy spot where such treasures were freely given.”
29. “I am convinced that one should tell one’s spiritual director if one has a great desire for Communion, for Our Lord does not come from Heaven every day to stay in a golden ciborium; He comes to find another heaven, the heaven of our soul in which He loves to dwell.”
30. “when something painful or disagreeable happens to me, instead of a melancholy look, I answer with a smile. At first, I did not always succeed, but now it has become a habit which I am glad to have acquired.”
31. “It is consoling that he who must judge us dwell in us to save us always from all of our miseries, and to pardon us.”
32. “to dedicate oneself as a Victim of Love is not to be dedicated to sweetness and consolations; it is to offer oneself to all that is painful and bitter, because Love lives only by sacrifice and the more we would surrender ourselves to Love, the more we must surrender
33. ourselves to suffering”
34. “I say nothing to him. I love him”
35. “Joy is not found in the things which surround us, but lives only in the soul.”
36. “Go often to Holy Communion. Go very often! This is your one remedy.”
37. “the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy.”
38. “Just as the sun shines on all the trees and flowers as if each were the only one on earth, so does God care for all souls, especially.”
39. “That beautiful day passed just as the saddest ones do since the most radiant of days has a tomorrow.”
40. “Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude.”
41. “You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.”
42. “Ah! How contrary are the teachings of Jesus to the feelings of nature? Without the help of His grace, it would be impossible not only to put them into practice but to even understand them.”
43. “I understand and I know from experience that: ‘The kingdom of God is within you.’ Jesus has no need of books or teachers to instruct souls; He teaches without the noise of words.
Never have I heard Him speak, but I feel He is within me at each moment; He is guiding and inspiring me with what I must say and do. I find just when I need them certain lights that I had not seen until then, and it isn’t most frequently during my hours of prayer that these are most abundant, but during my daily occupations.”
44. “It is wrong to pass one’s time in fretting, instead of sleeping on the Heart of Jesus.”
45. “ I chose as friends two little girls of my age; but how shallow are the hearts of creatures? One of them had to stay at home for some months; while she was away, I thought about her very often, and on her return, I showed how pleased I was.
However, all I got was a glance of indifference— my friendship was not appreciated. I felt this keenly, and I no longer sought an affection which had proved so inconstant.
Nevertheless, I still love my little school friend, and continue to pray for her, for God has given me a faithful heart, and when once I love, I live forever.”
46. “by humiliation alone can Saints be made,”
47. “How can a heart given up to human affections be closely united to God? It is impossible.
I have seen so many souls, allured by this false light, fly right into it like poor moths, and burn their wings, and then return, wounded, to Our Lord, the Divine fire which burns and does not consume.”
48. “I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifices to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.”
49. “I prayed earnestly for this Sister who had caused me so much struggle, but this was not enough for me. I tried to do everything I could for her, and when tempted to answer her sharply, I hastened to give her a friendly smile and talk about something else, for, as it says in The Imitation, “It is better to leave everyone to his own way of thinking than begin an argument.”
50. “It is not because I have been preserved from mortal sin that I lift up my heart to God in trust and love.
I feel that even had I on my conscience every crime one could commit, I should lose nothing of my confidence: my heart broke with sorrow, I would throw myself into the arms of my Saviour.
I know He loves the Prodigal Son, I have heard His words to St. Mary Magdalen, to the woman taken in adultery, and to the woman of Samaria. No one could frighten me, for I know what to believe concerning His Mercy and His Love.
And I know that all that multitude of sins would disappear in an instant, even as a drop of water cast into a flaming furnace.”
51. “I have at last found my vocation; it is love!”
52. “I said before, that I have learned much by guiding others. In the first place, I see that all souls have more or less the same battles to fight, and on the other hand, that one soul differs widely from another, so each must be dealt with differently.”
53. “Thus the ordinary, uncontrolled chattering we call “prose” changes its nature, like coal becoming incandescent. Poetry resembles music.”
54. “also understood that there are many degrees of holiness, that each soul is free to respond to the calls of Our Lord, to do much or little for His Love—in a word, to choose amongst the sacrifices He asks.”
55. “My God, I choose everything, I will not be a Saint by halves, I am not afraid of suffering for Thee, I only fear one thing, and that is to do my own will. Accept the offering of my will, for I choose all that Thou wiliest.”
56. “The good God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His Heart can, in an instant, make His flower bloom for eternity.” St Therese of Lisieux quotes.
57. “Then, beside myself with joy, I cried out: “O Jesus, my Love, at last, I have found my vocation. My vocation is love! Yes, I have found my place in the bosom of the Church, and this place, O my God, Thou hast Thyself was given to me: in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be LOVE.”
58. “I saw that every flower He has created has a beauty of its own, that the splendor of the rose and the lily’s whiteness do not deprive the violet of its scent nor make less ravishing the daisy’s charm.
I saw that if every little flower wished to be a rose, Nature would lose her spring adornments, and the fields would be no longer enameled with their varied flowers.”
59. “is more profitable to leave everyone to his way of thinking than to give way to contentious discourses.”
60. “Qu’importe, mon Dieu, que je brûle toute l’éternité en enfer, si c’est ta volonté.”
61. “One day, one of my teachers at the Abbey asked me what I did on my [5]free afternoons when I was alone. I told her I went behind my bed in an empty space which was there, and that it was easy to close myself in with my bed curtain and that “I thought.”
“But what do you think about?” she asked. “I think about God, about life, about eternity … I think!”
The good religious laughed heartily at me, and later on, she loved reminding me of the time when I thought, asking me if I was still thinking. I understand now that I was making mental prayer without knowing it and that God was already instructing me in secret.”
62. “I must walk right up to my last moment.”
63. “Time is your boat, not your home.”
64. “Each time that my enemy would provoke me to combat, I behave like a gallant soldier. I know a duel is an act of cowardice, and so, without once looking him in the face, I turn my back on the foe, then I hasten to my Savior, and vow that I am ready to shed my blood in witness of my belief in Heaven.”
65. “A love which does not prove itself in action is not enough, nor is our natural readiness to please a friend; that is not charity, for sinners are ready to do the same. Jesus,”
66. “If my little acts of virtue can be mistaken for imperfections, imperfections can just as easily be mistaken for virtue.”
67. “the thoughts of the Lord are not our thoughts, His ways are not our ways.”
68. “All God asks of you is goodwill. From the top of the ladder, He looks lovingly upon you, and soon, touched by your fruitless efforts, He will Himself come down, and, taking you in His Arms, will carry you to His Kingdom never again to leave Him.
But should you cease to raise your foot, you will be left for long on the earth.”
69. “Most of us pass our lives away eating the husks of life. Within them, beneath the rind, is a sweeter fruit than ever we have tasted.
How shall we find it unless the rind is peeled away by Wisdom greater than our own, by a Love whose ways are strange and bewildering to us.”
70. “Time is thy barque and not thy dwelling-place.”
73. “A brother who’s helped by a brother is like a powerful city.”
74. “He has never inspired me with any desire and left it unsatisfied, and that is why I have always found His bitter chalice full of sweetness.”
75. “Just one such faint spark can set the whole world on fire.”
76. “We must despise all these temptations and pay no attention to them.”
77. “Our Lord made me understand that the only true glory is that which lasts forever; and that to attain it there is no necessity to do brilliant deeds, but to hide from the eyes of others, and even from oneself, so that “the left-hand knows not what the right-hand does.”
78. “Clearly we must not be attached to anything, no matter how innocent, because it will slip from our grasp when least expected; nothing but the eternal can content us.”
79. “yet I think Our Lord made use of it to show me that a soul in the state of grace has nothing to fear from the devil, who is a coward, and will even fly from the gaze of a little child.”
80. “Nothing but the love of Jesus could have made me face these difficulties and others which followed, for I had to purchase my happiness through heavy trials.”
81. “I am now at a time of life when I can look back on the past, for my soul has been refined in the crucible of interior and exterior trials. Now, like a flower after the storm, I can raise my head and see that the words of the Psalm are realized in me:
The Lord is my Shepherd, and I shall want nothing. He has set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up on the water of refreshment. He has converted, my soul.
He hath led me on the paths of justice for His own Name’s sake. For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils for Thou are with me.” St Therese of Lisieux quotes.
82. “If we examine the poems of Thérèse of Lisieux at all, they reveal themselves richer than we first thought. And this is the problem with her poetry: We have to go beyond the simple style, which is naturally and deliberately artless—as is fitting for a “Carmelite poem”—to discover the treasures it conceals.”
83. “to dedicate oneself as a Victim of Love is not to be dedicated to sweetness and consolations; it is to offer oneself to all that is painful and bitter because Love lives only by sacrifice . . . and the more we would surrender ourselves to Love, the more we must surrender ourselves to suffering.”
84. “My God, how good Thou art! How well dost Thou suit the trial to our strength!”
85. “Translating poetry means taking a risk. The poetry of St. Therese, so simple, fresh, and pure, is particularly challenging to render into another language.”
86. “Our Lord has deigned to make me understand that by simple obedience I shall please Him best.”
87. “Life is your barque, not your home!”80”
88. “The one, more Latin, more Roman, closer to eloquence than to the literal word, aims at a certain effect, at magic. The other, more Greek, more Hellenistic, seeks transparency flowing from the source.”
89. “I wasn’t too good at playing games, but I loved reading very much and would have spent my life at it. I had human angels, fortunately for me, to guide me in the choice of the books which, while being entertaining, nourished both my heart and my mind.”
90. “unchanging truth, that unless we become as little children in the doing of our Heavenly Father’s Will, we cannot enter our Eternal Home.”
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