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I am content, nay, full of joy, to be without all consolation. I should be ashamed if my love were like that of earthly brides who are ever looking for gifts from their bridegrooms, or seeking to catch the smile which fills them with delight. Therese, the little Spouse of Jesus, loves Him for Himself. . . .

God is compassionate and filled with gentleness, slow to punish and abundant in mercy, for He knows our frailty, He remembers we are dust.

Holiness does not consist in this or that practice; it consists in a disposition of the heart, which makes us always humble and little in the arms of God, well aware of our feebleness, but boldly confident in the Father's goodness.

We must sweeten our minds by charitable thoughts. After that, the practice of patience will become almost natural.

Jesus,...wills to receive a gift from you. He knows it is much sweeter to give than to receive. We have only the short moment of this life to give to God...and He is already preparing to say: 'Now my turn.' What a joy to suffer for Him who loves us unto folly and to pass as fools in the eyes of the world.

We should never fear the battle when the good of our neighbor is involved.

True love grows by sacrifice and the more thoroughly the soul rejects natural satisfaction, the stronger and more detached its tenderness becomes.

It is so consoling to think that Jesus, the strong God, experienced all our weaknesses, that He trembled at the sight of the bitter chalice - the cup that He had longed for so ardently.

Jesus prefers leaving me in darkness to giving me a false light which would not be Himself.

The sorrow which casts us down is the hurt to our self-love...To brood gloomily over our own imperfections paralyzes our soul.

If heavenly grace and true charity come in, there shall be no envy or narrowness of heart, nor shall self-love keep its hold. For divine charity overcomes all, and dilates all the powers of the soul.

Our Lord's love is revealed as perfectly in the most simple soul that resists His grace in nothing as in the most excellent soul...