Mother Teresa
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
Biography
About Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa (1910–1997), born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje (in present-day North Macedonia), was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary who spent 45 years serving the poorest and most marginalized in Kolkata, India. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, which grew to operate over 4,500 schools, hospices, and homes for people living with leprosy, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis across 130 countries. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and was canonized by Pope Francis in September 2016.
Her work gave rise to the modern hospice movement's understanding that dying with dignity is as important as living with dignity.
Key Themes
Quick Facts
- Born
- 1910
- Died
- 1997
- Lifespan
- 87 yrs
- Quotes
- 12 collected
Photo: Túrelio / CC BY-SA 2.0 de / Source Resized and converted to WebP from the original.
Wisdom
Mother Teresa's Famous Quotes
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
— Commonly attributed — appears in numerous collections of her sayings
Mother Teresa spent over four decades working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Kolkata. She observed that the act of judging — measuring and categorizing others — consumes the mental and emotional energy that could otherwise flow as love. This quote captures her practical theology: love is not a feeling to be cultivated but an attention to be directed, and judgment competes for the same finite hours.
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
— Commonly attributed — widely cited in her speeches and writings
Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 with a conviction that every human encounter is an opportunity to leave someone in a better condition than you found them. This became her standard for her volunteers and sisters: not merely to perform tasks but to transform the atmosphere of every room they entered. The measure of presence, she believed, was whether people left feeling seen.
“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
“Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”
“We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.”
“If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
“Peace begins with a smile.”
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.”
“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”
“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
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Frequently Asked Questions
Mother Teresa (1910–1997), born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje (in present-day North Macedonia), was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary who spent 45 years serving the poorest and most marginalized in Kolkata, India. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, which grew to operate over 4,500 schools, hospices, and homes for people living with leprosy, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis across 130 countries. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and was canonized by Pope Francis in September 2016. Her work gave rise to the modern hospice movement's understanding that dying with dignity is as important as living with dignity. Mother Teresa lived 1910 – 1997.
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