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Mother Teresa and Resilience are inextricably linked through her decades of service to the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. Her life was a testament to the power of enduring through both physical exhaustion and profound spiritual desolation. Resilience, for Mother Teresa, was not merely a psychological trait but a divine calling to remain steadfast in the face of overwhelming human suffering.
"Do not let yourself be disheartened by any failure as long as you have done your best."
"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much."
"Life is a challenge, meet it."
"God does not require that we be successful, only that we be faithful."
Source: Biography: Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography
"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."
"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."
"If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are."
"I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things."
Source: Lecture: Address to the United Nations
"The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved."
"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love."
"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."
"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."
"One of the realities of the world that we live in is that we are all a bit afraid of each other."
"Peace begins with a smile."
"Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your weakness."
"Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus — a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you."
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
"To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it."
"Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty."
"The success of love is in the loving - it is not in the result of loving."
"Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls."
"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."
"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier."
"True love is love that causes us pain, that hurts, and yet brings us joy."
"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."
"What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight; build it anyway."
"The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow; do good anyway."
"Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable; be honest and frank anyway."
"People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway."
"Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway."
"There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter."
"If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway."
"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world."
"The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it."
Mother Teresa’s ideas on resilience matter because they shift the focus from personal achievement to selfless service as a source of strength. Her perspective proves that one can maintain mental toughness and endurance even when stripped of material resources or internal consolation.
To apply her lessons today, one should focus on doing 'small things with great love' to build grit through daily consistency. We can also practice resilience by maintaining our commitments during periods of doubt or lack of motivation, prioritizing the needs of others to find a deeper sense of purpose.
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"Through her unwavering devotion, Mother Teresa demonstrates that the most profound resilience is found in the quiet, persistent choice to serve others despite our own hardships."