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?”

The saying distills a central theme associated with Mother Teresa’s public spirituality: moral worth is measured less by quantity of achievements than by the quality of charity animating them. It shifts attention from external metrics (“how many good things”) to interior disposition (“how much love”), echoing a Christian emphasis on intention and self-giving as the heart of holiness. The imagined scene of divine judgment functions rhetorically to relativize worldly standards of success and to encourage ordinary, even small acts performed with compassion. In this framing, love is not an added sentiment but the defining substance that gives actions their ultimate value.