Olive Schreiner Quotes

Everyone can have a bad day.

Love is what enables us to bridge the gap of disappointment when others don't live up to the expectations we have of them.

The three most difficult things for a human being are not physical feats or intellectual achievements. They are, first, returning love for hate; second, including the excluded; third, admitting that you are wrong.

I don't like to condemn people because what that means is that you're only condemning yourself about a part of you that you can't stand.

Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.

Love much. Earth has enough of bitter in it.

One must learn to forgive and not to hold a hostile, bitter attitude of mind, which offends those about us and prevents us from enjoying ourselves. One must recognize human shortcomings and adjust himself to them rather than to be constantly finding fault with them.

Believe the best about people. Pray for their short comings. You are not the standard. We all need grace.

Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all.

Forgiveness means that I continually am willing to forgive the other person for not being God — for not fulfilling all my needs. I, too, must ask forgiveness for not being able to fulfill other people's needs. … The interesting thing is that when you can forgive people for not being God, then you can celebrate that they are a reflection of God.

Were I to be angry at men being fools, I could here find ample room for declamation; but, alas! I have been a fool myself; and why should I be angry with them for being something so natural to every child of humanity?

Our greatest indulgence towards a man springs from our despair of him.

You have to let other people be right' was his answer to their insults. 'It consoles them for not being anything else.

I don't bear any bitterness towards anyone.

I used to love people for what they could be. I thought love was how hard you tried and how much you sacrificed and suffered. That is not love. Acceptance is.

To understand is to forgive, even oneself.

I find that one must accept the people in such a way as they are.

You can't expect everyone to love you. I'm not someone who just wants to throw out hate, just because.

At my core, the glass isn't half-empty - it's not even what I ordered in the first place.

The more you know yourself, the more patience you have for what you see in others.

The people who are absent are the ideal; those who are present seem to be quite commonplace.

I don't have many regrets. I regret mistakes, particularly those that damage other people, and we've all made some of those. But I'm not sad about change.

I don't like when people expect too much, because then I'll only be disappointed if things don't work out.

I don't think it's good to try and change anyone. The trick and the mystery - of relationships and life in general - is to learn to live with the bits you don't like.

I've learned sometimes you just have to take the bad from people.