Мне легче прощать маленькие ошибки, чем долго помнить обиду.

Because Russian often uses an impersonal pattern for feelings, preferences, and evaluations:

Мне легче... = It is easier for me...

Here мне is the dative form of я.
So instead of saying something like я легче..., Russian says to me, it is easier...

This pattern is very common:

• Мне трудно понять. = It’s hard for me to understand.
• Мне приятно это слышать. = It’s pleasant for me to hear that.
• Мне легче прощать... = It’s easier for me to forgive...

Легче is the comparative form of легко / related to лёгкий, and here it means easier.

In this sentence, it works like a predicate:

• Мне легче прощать... = It is easier for me to forgive...

You can think of it as the Russian equivalent of easier in English comparisons.

Compare:

• Мне легко. = It is easy for me.
• Мне легче. = It is easier for me.

After words like легче, трудно, легко, приятно, Russian often uses an infinitive to say what is easy/hard/pleasant to do.

So:

• Мне легче прощать... = It’s easier for me to forgive...
• Мне трудно ждать. = It’s hard for me to wait.

This is very natural in Russian.

This is about verbal aspect.

• прощать = imperfective
• простить = perfective

The imperfective прощать is used because the sentence is talking about a general tendency or repeated kind of action, not one single completed act.

So:

• Мне легче прощать маленькие ошибки... means It is easier for me to forgive small mistakes (in general).

If you used простить, it would sound more like a single completed act: to forgive once / to manage to forgive.

In this sentence, the general idea makes прощать the better choice.

Because it is the direct object of прощать, so it goes into the accusative case.

However, for inanimate plural nouns in Russian, the accusative form is often the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative plural: маленькие ошибки
• accusative plural: маленькие ошибки

That is why the phrase looks unchanged.

Чем means than in a comparison.

So the structure is:

• мне легче X, чем Y = it is easier for me to do X than to do Y

In this sentence:

• Мне легче прощать маленькие ошибки, чем долго помнить обиду.
• It is easier for me to forgive small mistakes than to remember an offense for a long time.

Because Russian often leaves out repeated words when the meaning is clear.

The full logical structure is something like:

• Мне легче прощать маленькие ошибки, чем (мне легче) долго помнить обиду.

But repeating мне легче would sound unnecessary. Russian, like English, often omits repeated material in comparisons.

English does the same:

• It’s easier for me to forgive small mistakes than to hold a grudge.

You do not repeat it’s easier for me either.

Долго is an adverb meaning for a long time, and it modifies помнить.

So:

• долго помнить = to remember for a long time

This is the natural word order here. Russian word order is flexible, but долго помнить sounds smooth and neutral.

You could sometimes move adverbs around for emphasis, but this version is the most straightforward.

Because обиду is the accusative singular form of обида.

Обида means something like:

• hurt feelings
• resentment
• offense
• grievance

Since помнить here takes a direct object, Russian uses the accusative:

• nominative: обида
• accusative: обиду

So:

• помнить обиду = to remember/hold onto an offense

It is understandable literally, but it is also idiomatic.

In real usage, помнить обиду often means more than just remembering that something happened. It can suggest:

• holding onto hurt
• not letting go of resentment
• bearing a grudge

So in English, depending on context, you might translate it as:

• to remember an offense
• to hold onto resentment
• to bear a grudge

All of these capture part of the meaning.

Not very naturally.

A close word-for-word version would be:

• To me easier to forgive small mistakes than for a long time remember an offense.

That is not good English, but it helps show the structure.

A natural English version would be:

• It’s easier for me to forgive small mistakes than to hold onto resentment for a long time.
• It’s easier for me to forgive small mistakes than to remember an offense for a long time.

Russian and English organize this kind of sentence differently, especially because Russian uses the impersonal мне легче structure.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, but changing it usually changes emphasis.

The original sentence is neutral and natural:

• Мне легче прощать маленькие ошибки, чем долго помнить обиду.

Possible variations could emphasize different parts, for example:

• Маленькие ошибки мне легче прощать, чем долго помнить обиду.

This gives a little more emphasis to маленькие ошибки.

But for a learner, the original version is the best model to remember.

Yes, маленькие ошибки is natural and means small / minor mistakes.

But Russian could also say:

• небольшие ошибки = small mistakes
• мелкие ошибки = minor / petty mistakes

The choice depends on tone:

• маленькие is simple and clear
• небольшие sounds a bit more neutral/formal
• мелкие can suggest something trivial or petty

So маленькие ошибки is perfectly normal and easy to understand.

A very useful pattern is:

[Dative pronoun/noun] + comparative word + infinitive, чем + infinitive

In this sentence:

• Мне = for me
• легче = easier
• прощать маленькие ошибки = to forgive small mistakes
• чем = than
• долго помнить обиду = to remember/hold onto an offense for a long time

So the pattern is:

Мне легче X, чем Y.
= It is easier for me to do X than to do Y.

You can build many similar sentences:

• Мне легче читать, чем писать. = It’s easier for me to read than to write.
• Мне легче молчать, чем спорить. = It’s easier for me to stay silent than to argue.
• Мне легче помочь, чем объяснять. = It’s easier for me to help than to explain.