Interior Castle Quotes

“The devil frequently fills our thoughts with great schemes, so that instead of putting our hands to what work we can do to serve our Lord, we may rest satisfied with wishing to perform impossibilities.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, Interior Castle

“This Beloved of ours is merciful and good. Besides, he so deeply longs for our love that he keeps calling us to come closer. This voice of his is so sweet that the poor soul falls apart in the face of her own inability to instantly do whatever he asks of her. And so you can see, hearing him hurts much more than not being able to hear him… For now, his voice reaches us through words spoken by good people, through listening to spiritual talks, and reading sacred literature. God calls to us in countless little ways all the time. Through illnesses and suffering and through sorrow he calls to us. Through a truth glimpsed fleetingly in a state of prayer he calls to us. No matter how halfhearted such insights may be, God rejoices whenever we learn what he is trying to teach us.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, Interior Castle

“. . . it is presumptuous in me to wish to choose my path, because I cannot tell which path is best for me. I must leave it to the Lord, Who knows me, to lead me by the path which is best for me, so that in all things His will may be done.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“There is a secret place. A radiant sanctuary. As real as your own kitchen. More real than that. Constructed of the purest elements. Overflowing with the ten thousand beautiful things. Worlds within worlds. Forests, rivers. Velvet coverlets thrown over featherbeds, fountains bubbling beneath a canopy of stars. Bountiful forests, universal libraries. A wine cellar offering an intoxi cation so sweet you will never be sober again. A clarity so complete you will never again forget. This magnificent refuge is inside you. Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway… Believe the incredible truth that the Beloved has chosen for his dwelling place the core of your own being because that is the single most beautiful place in all of creation.”
― Mirabai Starr, Interior Castle

“It is a great advantage for us to be able to consult someone who knows us, so that we may learn to know ourselves.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“ Union is as if in a room there were two large windows through which the light streamed in it enters in diffrent places but it all becomes one. ”
― St. Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle

“I would write a thousand foolish things that one might be to the point, if only it might make us praise God more.”
― St. Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle

“. . . you must not build upon foundations of prayer and contemplation alone, for, unless you strive after the virtues and practice them, you will never grow to be more than dwarfs.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“For though we know quite well that God is present in all that we do, our nature is such that it makes us lose sight of the fact; but when this favour is granted it can no longer do so, for the Lord, who is near at hand, awakens it. And even the favours aforementioned occur much more commonly, as the soul experiences a vivid and almost constant love for Him whom it sees or knows to be at its side.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“God's will is that no bounds should be set to His works.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“souls without prayer are like people whose bodies or limbs are paralysed: they possess feet and hands but they cannot control them.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“Since God has given it such great dignity, permitting it to wander at will through the rooms of the castle, from the lowest to the highest. Let it not force itself to remain for very long in the same mansion, even the one of self-knowledge.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Mansions

“This magnificent refuge is inside you. Enter. Shatter the darkness that shrouds the doorway. Step around the poisonous vipers that slither at your feet, attempting to throw you off your course. Be bold. Be humble. Put away the incense and forget the incantations they taught you. Ask no permission from the authorities. Slip away. Close your eyes and follow your breath to the still place that leads to the invisible path that leads you home.”
― Mirabai Starr, The Interior Castle

“Once, when she was travelling to one of her convents, St. Teresa of Ávila was knocked off her donkey and fell into the mud, injuring her leg. “Lord,” she said, “you couldn’t have picked a worse time for this to happen. Why would you let this happen?”

And the response in prayer that she heard was, “That is how I treat my friends.”

Teresa answered, “And that is why you have so few of them!”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“It is quite important to withdraw from all unnecessary cares and business, as far as compatible with the duties of one’s state of life, in order to enter the second mansion.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Mansions

“But, as I know that strength arising from obedience has a way of simplifying things which seem impossible, my will very gladly resolves to attempt this task although the prospect seems to cause my physical nature great distress; for the Lord has not given me strength enough to enable me to wrestle continually both with sickness and with occupations of many kinds without feeling a great physical strain. May He Who has helped me by doing other and more difficult things for me help also in this: in His mercy I put my trust.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“But here the Lord asks only two things of us: love for His Majesty and love for our neighbour. It is for these two virtues that we must strive, and if we attain them perfectly we are doing His will and so shall be united with Him.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“true perfection consists in the love of God and our neighbor, and the better we keep both these commandments, the more perfect we shall be.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Mansions

“we are weakness itself, and unless He guards the city, in vain shall we labor to defend it.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Mansions

“Trust God that you are where you are meant to be.”
― St. Teresa Of Avila, The Interior Castle

“As to what good qualities there may be in our souls, or Who dwells within them, or how precious they are -- those are things which we seldom consider and so we trouble little about carefully preserving the soul's beauty. All our interest is centred in the rough setting of the diamond, and in the outer wall of the castle -- that is to say, in these bodies of ours.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“It is no small pity, and should cause us no little shame, that, through our own fault, we do not understand ourselves, or know who we are.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“perfection consists not in consolations, but in the increase of love;”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“to say nothing through fear that taking the matter up would be yielding to temptation would itself be to yield to temptation.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“do not try to get so much that you achieve nothing. Look”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“Let us look at our own shortcomings and leave other people’s alone; for those who live carefully ordered lives are apt to be shocked at everything and we might well learn very important lessons from the persons who shock us. Our”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“The soul is like a crystal in the sunshine over which a thick black cloth has been thrown so that however brightly the sun may shine the crystal can never reflect it.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Mansions

“It is by humility that the Lord allows Himself to be conquered so that He will do all we ask of Him,”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

“Since we can enjoy heaven on earth, be brave in begging the Lord that nothing will be lacking through our own fault, that with God's help we dig until we find this treasure.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Interior Castle Study Edition

“the soul of the righteous man is nothing but a paradise, in which, as God tells us, He takes His delight.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle