Quote by Gabriela Mistral: “We are guilty for all we did not love enough.”

Every moment we held back love, kindness, or care for someone — that restraint is something we carry as guilt. It is not only what we do wrong that damages us and others, but what warmth we failed to give when we could have.

Mistral wrote during a period of intense political upheaval in Latin America and Europe, with the Spanish Civil War drawing to a close and fascism rising across the continent. She was working as a Chilean consul in Europe, witnessing displacement and human suffering firsthand.

Chilean poet and diplomat, the first Latin American author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in 1945. Her poetry explored themes of love, loss, childhood, and maternal devotion, and she was a passionate advocate for education and children's rights across Latin America.