"Just as we cannot stop the movement of the heavens, revolving as they do with such speed, so we cannot restrain our thought. And then we send all the faculties of the soul after it, thinking we are lost, and have misused the time that we are spending in the presence of God. Yet the soul may perhaps be wholly united with Him in the Mansions very near His presence, while thought remains in the outskirts of the castle, suffering the assaults of a thousand wild and venomous creatures and from this suffering winning merit. So this must not upset us, and we must not abandon the struggle, as the devil tries to make us do. Most of these trials and times of unrest come from the fact that we do not understand ourselves."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Fourth Mansions, Ch. 1, trans. E. Allison Peers (1961), p. 58–59
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Teresa_of_%C3%81vila
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Teresa of Ávila
31 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Teresa of Ávila →
Related Quotes
"Christ has no body [...] but yours. [...] Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. [...] Yours are the hand…"
"Let nothing disturb thee; Let nothing dismay thee: All things pass; God never changes. Patience attains All that it s…"
"To have courage for whatever comes in life — everything lies in that."
"It is love alone that gives value to all things."
"Pain is never permanent."
"He who cares nothing for the good things of the world has dominion over them all."
"One of my brothers was nearly of my own age; and he it was whom I most loved, though I was very fond of them all, and…"
"It will be as well, I think, to explain these locutions of God, and to describe what the soul feels when it receives …"
"All things fail; but Thou, Lord of all, never failest! They who love Thee, oh, how little they have to suffer! oh, ho…"
"More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones."