Attributed to Teresa of Ávila
«More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.»
Misattributed
Verdict
It is not in Teresa of Ávila's work
Modern attribution with no source in the Teresian corpus; the phrase has circulated in English since the twentieth century and seems to derive from the novel Mr. Blue (Myles Connolly, 1928) or its later diffusion.
Source: Teresa de Jesús. Obras completas. Transcripción, introducciones y notas de Efrén de la Madre de Dios y Otger Steggink. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1962 (ediciones posteriores revisadas).
What they did say
Verified words of Teresa of Ávila
«Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you; all things pass away, God does not change; patience obtains everything; whoever has God lacks nothing: God alone suffices.»
Poesías, letrilla hallada en su breviario («Nada te turbe»)
«I live without living in myself, and so high a life I await, that I die because I do not die.»
Poesías, «Vivo sin vivir en mí» (glosa)
«Mental prayer, in my opinion, is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.»
Libro de la vida, cap. 8, 5