Last Updated:Tuesday, 27 December 2022

Childhood in Skopje

Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu was born on 26 August 1910 in Skopje, then part of the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. She was the youngest child of Albania couple Nikollë and Dranafile Bojaxhiu (Bernai). She was baptized on 27 August 1910 and later she considered this day as her "true birthday". Fascinated by stories of missionaries, she was convinced by age 12 that she would lead a religious life. In 1928, at age 18 she moved away from home and joined the Sisters of Loreto at Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Ireland. With the objective of becoming a missionary, she learnt English here and took the name Sister Mary Teresa after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. She never returned home or met her mother or her sister ever again.

Moved to India

In 1929, Sister Mary Teresa traveled for the novitiate period to Darjeeling, India. She took her First Profession of Vows in May 1931. Later, she was assigned to teach at Saint Mary's High School for Girls at Calcutta, a school run by the Loreto Sisters for girls of poorest Bengali families. She soon was able to speak both Bengali and Hindi fluently. She committed to ease the girls' poverty through education. In 1937, she made her Final Profession of Vows to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience and became Mother Teresa. By her compassion, humanity and unfailing dedication to her students' education, she sought to lead them to a life dedicated to Christ. After her service of nearly two decades, she was appointed its headmistress in 1944.

Call Within a Call

Mother Teresa heard the call of her inner conscience while travelling by train. She heard Christ asking her to serve the poor by staying with them. She could not leave her convent without official permission as per her vow of obedience. In January 1948 she finally received approval to pursue this new calling and in 1950 she founded ‘Missionaries of Charity'. She went out to serve humanity with two saris with a blue border and adopted Indian citizenship. After six months of basic medical training, for the first time she expedited Calcutta's slums to aid "the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for".

Shelter homes and hospitals

With help from Calcutta officials in 1952, Teresa opened her first hospice by converting an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday), free for the poor. She opened a hospice ‘Shanti Nagar’ for those with leprosy. To provide medication, dressings and food for leprosy patients the Missionaries of Charity started leprosy-outreach clinics throughout Calcutta. In 1955 she started Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, a shelter for orphans and homeless youth and children. By the 1960s it had opened hospices, orphanages and leper houses throughout India. From 1965 to 1970, the congregation opened houses and foundations in many dozens of countries across the world.

Here are a few of the Mother Teresa Quotes on compassion and love throwing some light on life. Share her quotes and spread happiness in the lives of people around you.

Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love. -Mother Teresa
I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much. -Mother Teresa
God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that you try. -Mother Teresa

Live simply so others may simply live. -Mother Teresa
Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts. -Mother Teresa

I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things -Mother Teresa
Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. -Mother Teresa
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. -Mother Teresa
Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. -Mother Teresa
Good works are links that form a chain of love. -Mother Teresa
We fear the future because we are wasting today. -Mother Teresa

When you don’t have anything, then you have everything. -Mother Teresa
Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life. -Mother Teresa
Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home. -Mother Teresa
Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. -Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa Quotes on Leadership

I ALONE CANNOT CHANGE THE WORLD, BUT I CAN CAST A STONE ACROSS THE WATERS TO CREATE MANY RIPPLES. -Mother Teresa
MOTHER TERESA QUOTE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING YOUR LIMITATIONS -Mother Teresa
KIND WORDS CAN BE SHORT AND EASY TO SPEAK, BUT THEIR ECHOES ARE TRULY ENDLESS. -Mother Teresa
MOTHER TERESA QUOTE ON HOW DEVELOPING DISCIPLINE WILL HELP YOU REACH YOUR GOALS -Mother Teresa
I CAN DO THINGS YOU CANNOT, YOU CAN DO THINGS I CANNOT; TOGETHER WE CAN DO GREAT THINGS. -Mother Teresa
MOTHER TERESA QUOTE ON BEING YOUR OWN LEADER -Mother Teresa
DO NOT WAIT FOR LEADERS; DO IT ALONE, PERSON TO PERSON. -Mother Teresa
MOTHER TERESA QUOTE ON TAKING ACTION EVERY DAY -Mother Teresa
WE CAN DO NO GREAT THINGS-ONLY SMALL THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE. -Mother Teresa
MOTHER TERESA QUOTE ON THE POWER OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK -Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa Quotes On Life Happiness

Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love. -Mother Teresa
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. -Mother Teresa
The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” -Mother Teresa
If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. -Mother Teresa
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin. -Mother Teresa
What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. -Mother Teresa
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. -Mother Teresa
I want you to be concerned about your next-door neighbor. Do you know your next-door neighbor? -Mother Teresa
I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, ‘How many good things have you done in your life?’ rather he will ask, ‘How much love did you put into what you did? -Mother Teresa
God doesn’t require us to succeed, he only requires that you try. -Mother Teresa
Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly. -Mother Teresa
Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. -Mother Teresa
If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. -Mother Teresa
Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. -Mother Teresa
We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion -Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa Quotes Love

If you judge people you have no time to love them. -Mother Teresa
I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. -Mother Teresa
If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. -Mother Teresa
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. -Mother Teresa
What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. -Mother Teresa
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin. -Mother Teresa
Peace begins with a smile. -Mother Teresa
Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. -Mother Teresa
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. -Mother Teresa
It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving. -Mother Teresa

Related:APJ ABdul Kalam Quotes

Honors

Mother Teresa was bestowed with various honors for her vigorous and valuable charity. The Decree of Praise by Pope Paul VI was just the beginning. She was awarded the Jewel of India, the highest honor bestowed on Indian civilians and the now-defunct Soviet Union's Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee. Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work "in bringing help to suffering humanity" in 1979 and the Bharat Ratna (India's highest civilian award) in 1980.

Canonization

Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87 after several years of deteriorating health, including heart, lung and kidney problems. By this time, the Missionaries of Charity numbered more than 4,000 — in addition to thousands more lay volunteers — with 610 foundations in 123 countries around the world. A day before the 19th anniversary of her death i.e., on September 4, 2016, Mother Teresa was canonized as a saint.

Mother Teresa is an inspiration to the world for her lifelong selfless commitment to the needy, poor and most vulnerable of the world. She guided us a way, to be closer to God, through the path of service. Her selflessness, sacrifices, the love and compassion she showered on the destitute of all faiths has made her an international symbol of charitable work. Her life has inspired the rich and the poor alike into another way of compassionate living. Share these Mother Teresa Quotes with your family, friends, colleagues and well wishers to motivate them and make them feel enlightened and inspired.

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Childhood in Skopje