# The most famous lines of Saint Teresa of Ávila and Saint John of the Cross

"Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you", "I live without living in myself" and "One dark night, fired with love's urgent longings": the most quoted verses and sayings of the two great Spanish mystics of the 16th century, each with the work it comes from.

- 106 votes · 15 items
- Nov 28, 2020 · Luis Fuentes
- https://even.best/en/l/5152/the-most-famous-lines-of-saint-teresa-of-avila-and-saint-john-of-the-cross

## Top 15

1. **I live without living in myself, / and I hope for so high a life / that I die because I do not die.** (9 · ▲11 ▼2) — Saint Teresa of Ávila, poem "Vivo sin vivir en mí".
2. **Let nothing disturb you, / let nothing frighten you, / all things pass, / God does not change; / patience obtains all things… / God alone suffices.** (9 · ▲10 ▼1) — Saint Teresa of Ávila, poem "Nada te turbe".
3. **One dark night, / fired with love's urgent longings, / oh, happy chance!, / I went out unseen, / my house being now all stilled.** (8 · ▲9 ▼1) — Saint John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul.
4. **Whoever knows how to die to everything will have life in everything.** (8 · ▲9 ▼1) — Saint John of the Cross, quoted in Díaz-Plaja, Tesoro breve de las letras hispánicas.
5. **And leaves me dying / of a something-I-know-not-what they keep stammering.** (6 · ▲7 ▼1) — Saint John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle.
6. **Extremes are not good, even in virtue.** (5 · ▲6 ▼1) — Saint Teresa of Ávila, quoted in Eduardo Palomo, Cita-logía, p. 125.
7. **O living flame of love, / that tenderly wounds / my soul in its deepest centre!** (4 · ▲6 ▼2) — Saint John of the Cross, Living Flame of Love.
8. **The Lord walks among the pots and pans.** (3 · ▲5 ▼2) — Saint Teresa of Ávila, Book of the Foundations (ch. 5).
9. **Such is the power of love when it is perfect that we forget our own pleasure to please the one we love.** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Saint Teresa of Ávila, quoted in Bartra, Frases y citas célebres.
10. **Where have you hidden, / Beloved, and left me moaning?** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Saint John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle.
11. **In the evening of life you will be examined on love.** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Saint John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love.
12. **Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love.** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Saint John of the Cross, letter to María de la Encarnación (1591).
13. **I no longer tend the flock, / nor have I any other work, / for now my only occupation is love.** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Saint John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle.
14. **Love alone is what gives value to all things.** (2 · ▲4 ▼2) — Saint Teresa of Ávila, quoted in the Complete Works edited by Vicente de la Fuente (1860).
15. **All that comes to an end and does not please God is nothing, and less than nothing.** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Saint Teresa of Ávila, The Book of Her Life, ch. XX.

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