Mother Teresa will be canonised as a saint on Sunday, less than two decades after her death. Pope Francis will declare her as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church at an event in Vatican. She was declared as "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta" in 2003 by Pope John Paul II.
Born on Aug. 26 1910, in present day Macedonia, Mother Teresa came to India in 1929 and became a citizen in 1951. She was known for serving the most neglected people in the society like leprosy and tuberculosis patients. She founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, to serve the poorest of the poor.
Critics had raised questions on the care homes by the Missionaries of Charity, alleging that they were not hygienic and medically up to the standard. But the fact remains that there was nobody to take care of sick and the poor then. Her selfless work and the amount of love she put into it was recognised by the world, for which she was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
Even as Catholics and fans of Mother Teresa around the world wait anxiously for her canonisation, here we give you some of her most inspirational quotes and sayings:
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies
One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody
If we pray, we will believe; if we believe, we will love; if we love, we will serve
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight; build it anyway
There are many people who can do big things, but there are very few people who will do the small things
People are often unreasonable and self-centred. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway
Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own
A life not lived for others is not a life.
The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted
I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things
If you judge people, you have no time to love them
Loneliness is the leprosy of the modern world
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there
Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you
The trees, the flowers, the plants grow in silence. The stars, the sun, the moon move in silence. Silence gives us a new perspective
I will never understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish
It is not the magnitude of our actions, but the amount of love that is put into them that matters
Give, but give until it hurts
Work without love is slavery
If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one
Everything that is not given is lost
Prayer in action is love, love in action is service
