Quotes About Forgiveness
Updated on October 4, 2008
"When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free."
-Catherine Ponder
"There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love."
-Bryant H. McGill
"To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness."
-Robert Muller
"Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much."
Oscar Wilde(Irish Poet, Novelist, Dramatist and Critic, 1854-1900)
"To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you."
-Lewis B. Smedes
"When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me."
-Emo Philips (comedian)
"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
-Mahatma Gandhi(Indian Philosopher, internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest, 1869-1948)
"You can't undo anything you've already done, but you can face up to it. You can tell the truth. You can seek forgiveness. And then let God do the rest."
"Sincere forgiveness isn't colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don't worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time."
-Sara Paddison
"The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget."
-Thomas S. Szasz(Hungarian psychiatrist and Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, b.1920)
"People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than for being right."
-Joanne Kathleen Rowling(English Writer, author of Harry Potter,b.1965)
"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit."
-Peter Ustinov(English actor and writer, b. 1921)
"Most of us can forgive and forget; we just don't want the other person to forget that we forgave"
-Ivern Ball
"You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well."
-Lewis B. Smedes
"When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive"
-Alan Paton(South African Writer and Educator, 1903-1988)
"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."
-Mark Twain(American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)
"Forgiveness is the oil of relationships"
-Josh McDowell
"We achieve inner health only through forgiveness - the forgiveness not only of others but also of ourselves"
-Joshua Loth Liebman
"Men forget but never forgive. Women forgive but never forget."
"The secret of forgiving everything is to understand nothing"
-George Bernard Shaw(Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1856-1950)
"Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness."
-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.(American best selling writer, author of Life's Little Instruction Book)
"I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one."
-Henry Ward Beecher(Liberal US Congregational minister, 1813-1887)
"He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.(American Baptist Minister and Civil-Rights Leader. 1929-1968)
"To forgive all is as inhuman as to forgive none"
-Seneca(Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)
"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."
-Paul Boese
"To forgive is human, to forget divine. . ."
-James Grand
"Forgiveness means letting go of the past."
-Gerald Jampolsky(American psychiatrist)
"Let us forgive each other - only then will we live in peace"
-Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy(Russian moral Thinker, Novelist and Philosopher, notable for his influence on Russian literature and politics. 1828-1910)
"God pardons like a mother, who kisses the offense into everlasting forgiveness."
-Henry Ward Beecher(Liberal US Congregational minister, 1813-1887)
"Without forgiveness, there's no future"
-Desmond Tutu
"True forgiveness is not an action after the fact, it is an attitude with which you enter each moment."
-David Ridge
"No matter how far off the pedistol the character fell- they always got a 2nd chance. Forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts the Lord has given us. With it comes understanding."
"Forgive or relive"
"Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits."
-Hannah Moore
"Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again."
-Saint Augustine(Ancient Roman Christian Theologian and Bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430. One of the Latin Fathers of the Church. 354-430)
"Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge."
-Isaac Friedmann
"I do not bring forgiveness with me, nor forgetfulness. The only ones who can forgive are dead; the living have no right to forget."
-Chaim Herzog
"Forgiveness is the needle that knows how to mend."
-Jewel(American Singer, Songwriter and Guitarist, b.1974)
"Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting."
-William Arthur Ward(American dedicated scholar, author, editor, pastor and teacher)
"To be social is to be forgiving"
-Robert Frost(American poet, 1874-1963)