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23 Mind-Blowing Quotes By Gabriela Mistral

Famous As: Chilean poet
Born On: 1889
Died On: 1957
Born In: Vicuña, Chile
Died At Age: 67
Lucila Godoy y Alcayaga, popular by her pseudonym Gabriela Mistral, was a diplomat, poet, humanist and educationist. She was the first author from South America to win the ‘Nobel Prize in Literature’ in 1945. She is without doubt one of the greatest literary figures in the history of Chile or South America. Her poems are still read by people in different parts of the world. Some of the subjects that she regularly wrote about in her poems included sadness, melancholy, love, nature, the love of mother and nature among others. Some of Mistral’s most well-known works include ‘Sonnets of Death’, ‘Poems of Chile’, ‘Readings for Women’, ‘Harvesting’, ‘Despair’ and ‘Ternura’ among many others that captivated audiences worldwide. Mistral not only devoted to literature but was deeply involved in a range of philanthropic causes as well. In fact, in her will, she left behind all the proceeds from her book sales to poor children living in Monte Grande, a place where she spent much of her childhood. Let us browse through deceptively simple, sensible and inspirational quotes and thoughts by Gabriela Mistral that hold a world of wisdom.
You shall create beauty not to excite the senses
but to give sustenance to the soul.

You shall create beauty not to excite the senses but to give sustenance to the soul.

Gabriela Mistral
Love that stammers, that stutters, is apt to be the love that loves best.

Love that stammers, that stutters, is apt to be the love that loves best.

Gabriela Mistral
Now my belly is as noble as my heart.

Now my belly is as noble as my heart.

Gabriela Mistral

We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow,’ his name is today.

Gabriela Mistral
Love beauty it is the shadow of God on the universe

Love beauty it is the shadow of God on the universe

Gabriela Mistral
The poet is an untier of knots, and love without words is a knot, and it drowns.

The poet is an untier of knots, and love without words is a knot, and it drowns.

Gabriela Mistral
Speech is our second possession, after the soul-and perhaps we have no other possession in this world.

Speech is our second possession, after the soul-and perhaps we have no other possession in this world.

Gabriela Mistral
Let the earth look at me, and bless me, for now I am fecund and sacred, like the palms and the furrows.

Let the earth look at me, and bless me, for now I am fecund and sacred, like the palms and the furrows.

Gabriela Mistral
Love beauty; it is the shadow of God on the universe

Love beauty; it is the shadow of God on the universe

Gabriela Mistral

Writing tends to cheer me; it always soothes my spirit and blesses me with the gift of an innocent, tender, childlike day. It is the sensation of having spent a few hours in my homeland, with my customs, free whims, my total freedom.

Gabriela Mistral
There is the joy of being healthy and fair, but there is overall the beauty, the immense joy of being useful.

There is the joy of being healthy and fair, but there is overall the beauty, the immense joy of being useful.

Gabriela Mistral
What the soul is to the body, so is the artist to his people,

What the soul is to the body, so is the artist to his people,

Gabriela Mistral

I write poetry because I can’t disobey the impulse; it would be like blocking a spring that surges up in my throat. For a long time I’ve been the servant of the song that comes, that appears and can’t be buried away. How to seal myself up now?…It no longer matters to me who receives what I submit. What I carry out is, in that respect, greater and deeper than I, I am merely the channel.

Gabriela Mistral
Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today.

Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are formed, his mind developed. To him we cannot say tomorrow, his name is today.

Gabriela Mistral

In the secret of night, my prayer climbs like the liana, My prayer is, and I am not. It grows, and I perish. I have only my hard breath, my reason and my madness. I cling to the vine of my prayer. I tend it at the root of the stalk of night.

Gabriela Mistral
Now I am nothing but a veil; all my body is a veil beneath which a child sleeps.

Now I am nothing but a veil; all my body is a veil beneath which a child sleeps.

Gabriela Mistral
All night I have suffered; all night my flesh has trembled to bring forth its gift. The sweat of death is on my forehead; but it is not death, it is life!

All night I have suffered; all night my flesh has trembled to bring forth its gift. The sweat of death is on my forehead; but it is not death, it is life!

Gabriela Mistral
My grief and my smile begin in your face, my son.

My grief and my smile begin in your face, my son.

Gabriela Mistral
I have all that I lost and I go carrying my childhood like a favorite flower that perfumes my hand.

I have all that I lost and I go carrying my childhood like a favorite flower that perfumes my hand.

Gabriela Mistral
For me, religiosity is ... the constant remembrance of the presence of the soul.

For me, religiosity is ... the constant remembrance of the presence of the soul.

Gabriela Mistral
Let the radiance of my enthusiasms envelop the poor courtyard and the bare classroom. Let my heart be a stronger column and my goodwill purer gold than the columns and gold of rich schools.

Let the radiance of my enthusiasms envelop the poor courtyard and the bare classroom. Let my heart be a stronger column and my goodwill purer gold than the columns and gold of rich schools.

Gabriela Mistral
I have a faithful joy and a joy that is lost. One is like a rose, the other, a thorn. The one that was stolen I have not lost.

I have a faithful joy and a joy that is lost. One is like a rose, the other, a thorn. The one that was stolen I have not lost.

Gabriela Mistral
Dusk

I feel my heart melting
in the mildness like candles:
my veins are slow oil
and not wine,
and I feel my life fleeing
hushed and gentle like the gazelle.

Dusk I feel my heart melting in the mildness like candles: my veins are slow oil and not wine, and I feel my life fleeing hushed and gentle like the gazelle.

Gabriela Mistral