Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym used by the Chilean poet, diplomat and pedagogue Lucila Godoy Alcayaga born in 1889 in Vicuña, Chile.
Mistral had a fruitful career as a thinker that led her to be involved in the reform of the Mexican educational system and to do great work as Chilean consul in the state of New York.
The best phrases of Gabriela Mistral
A great woman who cannot go unnoticed in history books necessarily deserved a compilation of her best ideas and thoughts.
That is why in the text that you will find below you can enjoy the 75 best phrases and reflections of Gabriela Mistral most relevant of his entire career.
1. The world changes in an instant and we are born in a day.
Life takes many turns and time passes very quickly in it.
2. Remembering a good time is feeling happy again.
Our memories are one of the most valuable assets we possess.
3. Where there is a tree to plant, plant it yourself. Where there is an error to correct, you correct it. Where there is an effort that everyone avoids, do it yourself. Be the one who moves the stone out of the way.
With our personal effort and dedication, we will achieve all our personal goals.
4. Education is, perhaps, the highest way to seek God.
Education is the pillar on which a productive life is based, it is the main tool that we will use the most.
5. There are kisses that produce ravings of ardent and crazy loving passion, you know them well, they are my kisses invented by me, for your mouth.
A simple kiss from our loved one can completely upset our mind, making us lose our minds.
6. The happiest days are those that make us wise.
The day we learn something new is a day well spent.
7. There are smiles that are not happy, but a way of crying with kindness.
A smile can mean many different things, on countless occasions we do not show our true feelings.
8. Give me your hand and we will dance; Give me your hand and you will love me. We will be like a single flower, like a flower, and nothing more.
Relationships can be something wonderful, Mistral knew this feeling very well.
9. The world was more beautiful since you made me an ally, when next to a hawthorn we were left speechless And love like the hawthorn pierced us with fragrance!
We will always remember the moment we found love, it will be marked in our memory.
10. Oh, how loving the rose is and how beloved the thorn!
Everything in the universe has positive and negative aspects, ambiguity is present in everything that surrounds us.
11. Your name is Rosa and I am Esperanza, but you will forget your name, because we will be a dance on the hill and nothing more.
A brief quote from one of Gabriela Mistral’s most relevant poems, a metaphor about personal relationships.
12. I believe in my heart, always but never emptied.
The strength of our feelings can lead us to do great things in life.
13. There is the immense joy of living and being just, but above all there is the immense joy of serving.
Life is wonderful and we must know how to take advantage of it, we only have one to achieve happiness.
14. I wait for you without deadline or time.
Love is a feeling that can last a lifetime, beyond time and space.
15. There are kisses that leave traces on the lips like a field of sun between two ice.
Kisses can make us feel like time stops around us.
16. Because my love is not just this sheaf
reluctant and tired of my body, which trembles completely at the touch of the hair shirt and which lags behind me in every flight. It is what is in the kiss, and it is not the lip that breaks the voice, and it is not the chest: It is a wind from God, which passes sinking the segment of my flesh, flyaway!
A very good example of the poetry of this great writer, she had a gift for it.
17. I believe in my heart, a bouquet of aromas that my Lord waves like a frond, perfuming all life with love and making it blessed.
Our feelings can mark us very deeply, for Gabriela Mistral they were a source of inspiration.
18. There are kisses that alone pronounce the condemnatory sentence of love, there are kisses that are given with a look, there are kisses that are given with memory.
We will always remember those passionate kisses we once had in our lives.
19. We will sing the same verse, you will dance to the same step. Like an ear we will undulate, like an ear, and nothing more.
Sometimes we feel connected to other people in a very powerful way, as if we were part of the same being.
20. There are countries that I remember like I remember my childhood. They are countries of sea or river, of pastures, of plains and waters.
Our childhood memories will accompany us throughout our lives.
21. Hide me so that the world does not guess me. Hide its resin from me like the trunk, and may I perfume you in the shadows, like the drop of gum, and soften you with it, and others may not know where your sweetness comes from.
We all have innate qualities that we must know how to take advantage of; what we are today and what we will be tomorrow depends on them.
22. I believe in my heart, the one that I squeeze to dye the canvas of life.
Our willpower and perseverance come from our heart, from where our emotions spring.
23. In vain the net is cast before the eyes of those who have wings.
It all depends on the point of view from where we observe something, our perception can be very different.
24. The experience is a lottery ticket purchased after the draw.
Experience is one of the greatest gifts that life can give us, with it we can achieve wisdom.
25. Your insides were and would be burned in your marches that I never hear again, And in your passion that resounds in the night, like the madness of lonely seas!
A very poetic quote from Mistral that he gives us from his talent for writing.
26. We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is the abandonment of children, denying them the source of life.
We must always look out for the little ones, they are the future of humanity.
27. I look at you, I look at you without getting tired of looking and what a beautiful child I see in your eyes.
Being in touch with our inner child is something we should all do and very few of us actually do.
28. Having a homeland is a gift that must be reciprocated from time to time.
Loving our country is something that many of us do and that we should always encourage.
29. Happy are those who choose, those who accept to be chosen.
In life sometimes we have to choose and sometimes we have to be chosen, we must be happy in both situations.
30. What the soul does for its body is what the artist does for his people.
A very poetic metaphor that tells us about the value of the intangible, what we often do not see.
31. The Bible is the book for me. I don’t see how anyone can live without it.
Mistral reveals to us in this quote the importance that the Bible had for her.
32. Doña Primavera, with her fertile breath, laughs at all the sorrows in the world.
Spring is a beautiful time that we can all enjoy wherever we are.
33. Don’t say what you think, but mean what you say.
A rule that we must all always obey is: always think before you speak.
34. There is no atheistic art. Even if you do not love the creator, you will affirm it by creating in his likeness.
Normally the artist always respects the beliefs of others, which often leads him to have his own beliefs.
35. Return your sigh to me, and I will rise and fall from your chest, I will entangle myself in your heart, I will go out into the air to enter again. And I’ll be in this game all my life.
Many times we can want to live over and over again those good experiences we had with a loved one.
36. To say friendship is to say complete understanding, quick trust and long memory; that is, fidelity.
Friendship is one of the best relationships that humans can have with each other.
37. Do not fear night, fog or downpour. Come with a trail or without a trail. Call me to where you are, my soul, and march straight towards me, companion.
Very nice quote that tells us about always being present for our loved ones.
38. Things in life follow their course but don’t let yourself be carried away by their destiny.
We must try to meet our goals, lead the life we really want.
39. A beautiful landscape, a beautiful day, a select book… What else do you need to be happy? The sun shines inside.
The most beautiful things in life are often those that seem most insignificant.
40. War is to distract us from the good.
War is one of the worst stages that any human being can have to go through, nothing good ever comes of a war. Better a bad peace than a good war.
41. The future of children is always today. Tomorrow will be late.
We must do everything we can for our children today, the future is not yet written.
42. Many of the things that we need can wait, children cannot, now is the time, their bones are forming, their blood is also forming and their senses are developing, we cannot answer him tomorrow, his name is today.
As adults we must ensure the future of all children, starting right now.
43. I have a day. If I know how to take advantage of it, I have a treasure.
Every day we live is a treasure that we must know how to make the most of.
44. Doña Primavera sees that it is beauty, she dresses in lemon trees and orange trees in bloom.
How beautiful spring is and how many wonderful things it gives us every year.
45. Always teach: in the playground and on the street as in the classroom. Teach with attitude, gesture and word.
Children and young people learn every second of their existence, they learn from all the experiences they constantly live.
46. To correct, there is no need to fear. The worst teacher is the teacher with fear.
In order to teach children what is right and what is wrong, we must correct our little ones.
47. Live the beautiful theories. Live kindness, activity and professional honesty.
Being teachers can give us many invaluable personal experiences.
48. An illiterate person can teach more than a person without honesty or equity.
Just because we don’t know how to write or read doesn’t mean we don’t have values, something that is of much greater importance.
49. Liven up the teaching with the beautiful word, with the timely anecdote, and the relationship of each knowledge with life.
In this quote Mistral tells us about the qualities of any good teacher, didactic teaching.
50. Teaching children is perhaps the highest way to seek God; but it is also the most terrible in the sense of tremendous responsibility.
When the future of children or young people hangs in our hands, the responsibility we have is very serious.
51. If we do not achieve equality and culture within the school, where can these things be required?
In school there must be all the rights that children will later encounter in life.
52. The nobility of teaching begins in the attentive class and includes exalting singing in a spiritual sense, ancient dance – grace and decorum – talk without cruelty and simple and correct dress.
A well-organized class is, without a doubt, a much more efficient class.
53. The teacher who does not read must be a bad teacher: she has reduced her profession to the mechanism of a trade, by not renewing herself spiritually.
Reading is an activity that we must do throughout our lives, it enriches us culturally and spiritually.
54. It is as dangerous for the superficial teacher to chat with the student, as it is beautiful for the teacher who has something to teach outside of class to always be by her side.
The profession of a teacher does not end when they leave school, they have to be an example to follow in all aspects of their life.
55. The parables of Jesus are the eternal model of teaching: use the image, be simple and give the deepest thought under a simple appearance.
Jesus, after all, was a tutor for many people throughout his life.
56. It is an intolerable vacuum in instruction that, before giving knowledge, does not teach methods for studying.
In order to learn effectively we must know how to study, many children lack that type of instruction.
57. Since it is not possible to retain everything, the student must be made to select and know how to distinguish between the core of a piece and the useful but not essential detail.
The student must know how to sift the chaff from the grain and make a correct synthesis of what has been studied.
58. Since children are not commodities, it is shameful to bargain for time at school. They tell us to instruct for hours, and always educate. Then, we belong to the school whenever it needs us.
The educational system of many countries can clearly be improved, Mistral collaborated to improve the educational system of Mexico.
59. Love for girls teaches more ways to those who teach than pedagogy.
To be a good teacher one must love their job, be born for it.
60. We study without love and we apply without love the maxims and aphorisms of Pestalozzi and Froebel, those tender souls, and that is why we do not achieve what they achieved.
In order to teach correctly we need to put a lot of love into what we want them to learn, as Mistral very well tells us in this quote.
61. It is not harmful to comment on life with students, when the comment criticizes without poisoning, praises without passion and has an edifying intention.
A teacher can teach her students in many different ways, not just by giving basic notions of arithmetic.
62. How many souls has a teacher poisoned or left confused or forever diminished during her lifetime?
A teacher who does not carry out her job correctly can cause severe damage to the identity of her students.
63. Vanity is the worst vice of a teacher, because the one who believes herself to be perfect has, in truth, closed all the paths to perfection.
A teacher should never be vain; on the contrary, he or she should accept that no one is perfect.
64. Every effort that is not sustained is lost.
In order to achieve our goals we must be perseverant, this quality is one of the most important in life.
65. Nothing is more difficult than measuring in a class how far the pleasantness and joy extend and where the chatter and disorder begin.
Knowing how to stop children’s feet in time is a gift that many teachers do not possess.
66. There is the right to criticize, but after having successfully done what is being criticized.
In order to criticize something we must do it in a more accurate way.
67. We all have a part in the progress or discredit of a school.
All the people within a school are responsible for its good or bad reputation.
68. Nothing is sadder than when the student verifies that her class is equivalent to her text.
A student will be as good as his teacher has taught him to be, if they do not achieve the correct level it will always be the teacher’s fault.
69. The teacher who does not respect her own schedule and alters it only for her personal comfort, thereby teaches disorder and lack of seriousness.
A teacher must always be a clear example for children, in all aspects that govern their lives.
70. I am dry, I am hard and I am sharp. Love will make me another with you, but it will not be able to completely remake me.
In the end there are qualities in us that no one will be able to change, those that reveal our authentic way of being.
71. I would just like to be one of the reasons for your smile, perhaps a small thought from your mind during the morning, or perhaps a nice memory before going to sleep. I would just like to be a fleeting image in front of your eyes, perhaps a whispering voice in your ear, or perhaps a slight touch of your lips. I just want to be someone you want to have by your side, maybe not all day long, but in one way or another, live in you.
A very romantic phrase by Gabriela Mistral, the ease with which she created her poems is undoubtedly incredible.
72. Give me, Lord, the perseverance of the waves of the sea, which make each setback a starting point for a new advance.
Mistral knew very well the importance of perseverance, with it we are unstoppable.
73. I taught you to kiss, cold kisses are from an impassive heart of rock. I taught you to kiss with my kisses invented by me for your mouth.
A very simple phrase but at the same time very interesting, we recommend you read the poetry of this fantastic author.
74. I leave you with your very breaths: as moisture from your body I evaporate. I leave you with vigil and with sleep, and in your most faithful memory I am already erased. And in your memory I become like those who were born neither in plains nor in thickets.
Forgetting is something very difficult to do, our memories can accompany us for a lifetime.
75. Love is patient, it is kind.
Love, as the main axis of many of Mistral’s texts, was very relevant in his life, something that many of us share.