Love, Self, & Beyond: Forgiveness Quotes That Matter

Table of Content

General forgiveness quotes

“You won’t forgive me exactly, but we’ll laugh about how small it is. We’ll wonder how such a little thing could ever have meant so much.” – Mindy Nettifee
“People are not always what they say there are – or even what they think they are. There is but One who sees us objectively, and heave reason to be thankful that He is called the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Forgiving” – Gai Eaton
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. / Nije problem dijete koje se boji mraka; prava tragedija su odrasli koji se boje svjetla.” – Plato
“Where error is irreparable, repentance is useless.” – Edward Gibbon
“One should forgive one’s enemies, but not before they are hanged.” – Heinrich Heine
“War can condition a person to be resilient, tolerant, dependable, strong, and capable of so much more than one who had experienced nothing of it; it can bring out the very best in us, but also the very worst. Where is it, I ask, the proper conduit through which a soldier should be raised from whence they would become an upstanding citizen of the world, instead of a single country?” – Mike Norton
“To err is only human, but it’s divine to forgive. I believe that sincerely.” – Richard Bachman
“Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.” – Robert Jordan
“I forgive you, Sir Knight,” said Rowena, “as a Christian.” “That means,” said Wamba, “that she does not forgive him at all.” – Walter Scott
“God has left sin in the world in order that there may be forgiveness: not only the secret forgiveness by which He Himself cleanses our souls, but the manifest forgiveness by which we have mercy on one another and so give expression to the fact that He is living, by His mercy, in our own hearts.” – Thomas Merton
“Forgiveness is not about forgetting, Mack. It is about letting go of another person’s throat.” – Wm. Paul Young
“It seems as though mankind has forgotten the laws of its divine Saviour, Who preached love and forgiveness of injuries—and that men attribute the greatest merit to skill in killing one another.” – Leo Tolstoy
“But when we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain flexible but not relativistic, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft and true witnesses without being manipulative.” – Brennan Manning
“‘For shame, Heathcliff!’ said I. ‘It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.’” – Emily Brontë
“I think too much value is given to forgiveness when it’s easier to forgive but far harder to forget. That understanding and acceptance is far more important than forgiving someone,” – Jennifer L. Armentrout
“You’ll meet people that you love who fuck up constantly. You’ll learn when to forgive human error and when to eradicate the unworthy from your spirit.” – Gabby Rivera
“Forgiveness is for Buddhists.” – Tarryn Fisher
“I chose to believe that God, a benign God, would understand our sufferings and forgive us our trespasses.” – Jojo Moyes
“People who love us do black magic on us, but they don’t know what they do. That is why we must forgive them; they don’t know what they do.” – Miguel Ruiz
“gentle and forgiving thoughts crystallize into habits of gentleness, which solidify into protective and preservative circumstances” – James Allen
“God is love. Love is always present, surrounding us; guiding, growing, and teaching us. Even in the midst of total chaos, pain, and dysfunction, love is calling us to a higher experience and expression.” – Iyanla Vanzant
“People will forgive you for being wrong, but they will never forgive you for being right—especially if events prove you right while proving them wrong.” – Thomas Sowell
“… the only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you are – not smarter, not cooler, but kinder and more generous, and more forgiving – and then appreciate them for what they can teach you, and try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad – or good – it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.” – Hanya Yanagihara
“I forgive. Cause nobody knows us : except our mothers, and they hardly do (and also tend disappointingly to die before they ought). Or our fathers, whose failings while they’re alive (and absences after they’re dead) infuriate. Or our siblings, who want us dead too cause what they know about us is that somehow we got away with not having to carry the bricks and stones like they did all those years. Cause nobody’s the slightest idea who we are, or who we were, not even we ourselves – except, that is, in the glimmer of a moment of fair business between strangers, or the nod of knowing and agreement between friends. Other than these, we go out anonymous into the insect air and all we are is the dust of colour, brief engineering of wings towards a glint of light on a blade of grass or a leaf in a summer dark.” – Ali Smith
“You’re a lady. It’s written all over you, but the West doesn’t forgive any woman-unless she’s got a man.” – Liliana Shelbrook
“I have no doubt at all the Devil grins, As seas of ink I spatter. Ye gods, forgive my “literary” sins — The other kind don’t matter.” – Robert W. Service
“Salander never forgets an injustice, and by nature she was anything but forgiving.” – Steig Larson
“It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own.” – Jessamyn West
“Please forgive the long letter; I didn’t have time to write a short one.” – Blaise Pascal
“Jason Todd: Bruce, I forgive you for not saving me. But why? Why on God’s Earth is HE still alive? Ignoring what he’s done in the past. Blindly, stupidly, disregarding the entire graveyards he’s filled, the thousands who have suffered, the friends he’s crippled. You know, I thought… I thought I’d be the last person you’d ever let him hurt. If it had been you he beat to a bloody pulp, if he had taken you from this world, I would’ve done nothing but search the planet for this pathetic pile of evil death-worshiping garbage and sent him off to Hell.
Bruce: You don’t understand. I don’t think you’ve ever understood.
Jason: What? What, your moral code just won’t allow for that? It’s too hard to cross that line?
Bruce: No! God almighty, no. It’d be too damned easy. All I’ve ever wanted to do is kill him. But if I do that… if I allow myself to go down into that place… I’ll never come back.
Jason: Why? I’m not talking about killing Penguin, or Scarecrow, or Dent. I’m talking about him. Just him. And doing it because… because he took me away from you.” – Judd Winick Bob Kane
“Great, she didn’t lie to me. “Mind if I tag along with you? I would love to have some company. Please don’t say no. I don’t know if I can take it if you turn me down, beloved,” he spoke inaudibly.
“Remember the last time we were at an art gallery together?” he asked. “Sure I do,” she remarked, walking slowly. Wish I hadn’t gone anywhere with you, Creepville!” – Sharon Carter
“The roads to salvation are many. Forgiveness is not the only path.” – Dan Brown
“Yes, a person can accept your apology and forgive you for what you’ve said, but they will never forget how you made them feel at that very moment. Words can stick in a person’s mind, heart, and spirit long after the words have been spoken. Don’t be in denial; words have GREAT power. Be wise when you speak!” – Stephanie Lahart
“There’s no such thing as a bitter person who keeps the bitterness to himself.” – Erwin W. Lutzer
“There are two kinds of knowledge, local and universal.” – Ursula K. Le Guin
“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it” – Oscar Wild
“I did not love you but I almost did. At one time, I might have loved you – at least, I felt I might have. If you were never loved by me, then nevertheless you were loveable to me. Last night I dreamt that your head lay on my stomach and traced the rise and fall of my breath. It felt completely normal – even though I knew once, we had left each other. Even though I knew we had wounded each other. In the dream state, forgiveness comes easily. I never loved you but I almost did. There are days when the breadth of ambiguity feels much worse. There are days I wish I would have loved you so I would know how to stop.” – Sue Zhao
“I do not know this man, I think. He is no one I have ever seen before. My rage towards him is hot as blood. I will never forgive him. I imagine tearing down our tent, smashing the lyre, stabbing myself in the stomach and bleeding to death. I want to see his face broken with grief and regret. I want to shatter the cold mask of stone that has slipped down over the boy I knew.” – Madeline Miller
“Sounds like the start of a beautiful friendship, Leonard. It really does.” “Here’s looking at you, kid.” – Matthew Quick
“I’m as forgiving as the wall you hit at two hundred kilometers an hour.” – Ann Aguirre
“It’s easier to forgive someone for scaring you than for making you cry.” – April Genevieve Tucholke.
“(and Catholics give out forgiveness at about the same rate as politicians give out promises and whores give out)” – Zadie Smith.
“He sighed against my hair. “Be good. Listen to the boys. Try not to get them into any trouble.” I scoffed. “I don’t do that.” – C.L. Stone.
“You are outside life, you are above life, you have miseries which the ordinary man does not know, you exceed the normal level, and it is for this that men refuse to forgive you, you poison their peace of mind, you undermine their stability. You have irrepressible pains whose essence is to be inadaptable to any known state, indescribable in words. You have repeated and shifting pains, incurable pains, pains beyond imagining, pains which are neither of the body nor of the soul, but which partake of both. And I share your suffering, and I ask you: who dares to ration our relief?… We are not going to kill ourselves just yet. In the meantime, leave us the hell alone.” – Antonin Artaud.
“A man can forgive all manner of faults in beautiful women that in ugly men he find entirely beyond sufferance” – Joe Abercrombie.
“If you or I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world.” – Deepak Chopra.
“When we look at the whole scope of this story line, we see clearly that Christianity is not only about getting one’s individual sins forgiven so we can go to heaven. That is an important means of God’s salvation, but not the final end or purpose of it. The purpose of Jesus’s coming is to put the whole world right, to renew and restore the creation, not to escape it. It is not just to bring personal forgiveness and peace, but also justice and shalom to the world. God created both the body and soul, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both body and soul. The work of the Spirit of God is not only to save souls but also to care and cultivate the face of the earth, the material world.” – Timothy Keller.
“Everyone had some defect, or body or of mind: he thought of all the people he had known (the whole world was like a sick house and there was no rhyme or reason in it), he saw a long procession, deformed in body, warped in mind, some with illness of the flesh, weak hearts or weak lungs, and some with illness of the spirit, languor of will, or craving for liquor. At that moment he felt a holy compassion for them all. …The words of the dying God crossed his memory: Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” – W. Somerset Maugham.
“I don’t want to hear any bullshit about how ‘forgiveness’ helps you sleep better at night,’ because that’s not true. (My seven layer mattress is amazing.)” – Whitney Gracia Williams.
“Sometimes… the first step to forgiveness is realizing that the other person… is batshit crazy.” – Michelle Bartlett.
“You want to just dump me in space?” My voice is low, but not for long. “It’s not like I’ve done anything wrong! I didn’t wake myself up, you know!” Eldest shrugs. “It would be by far the simplest solution. You are, after all, nonessential.” “We can’t do that,” the doctor says, and I totally forgive him for being creepy and threatening me with drugs.” – Beth Revis.
“There is only one sin god will not forgive Boss, and that is to deny a woman who is in wanting ~ Zorba” – Nikos Kazantzakis.
“You say: ‘Oh, please forgive’ You say: ‘Oh, live and let live.’ But sorry doesn’t help us. Sorry will not save us. Sorry is just a word you find so easy to say (so you say it anyway). Sorry doesn’t help us. Sorry won’t protect us. Sorry won’t undo all the good gone wrong.” – Morrissey.
“Self-involved? Self-involved?!?” I jump to my feet, unable to sit still. “Let’s talk about self-involved, Mr. Kissing Unsuspecting Girls in Libraries.” – Tera Lynn Childs.
“Forgiveness happens in the beat of a heart, forgetting takes a lifetime.” – Jewel E. Ann.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t reply. Because, if I do, then… …Then you would end up becoming a mere character of the story. Because you definitely couldn’t become a mere character [Kim Dokja had learned how to live from this man.] This man was my father, my older brother and my oldest friend I couldn’t kill this guy. Nor could I beg for his forgiveness either -Kim Dokja” – Singshong.
“Speak with caution. Even if someone forgives harsh words you’ve spoken, they may be too hurt to ever forget them. Don’t leave a legacy of pain and regret of things you never should have said.” – Germany Kent.
“If you didn’t earn something, it’s not worth flaunting.” – Aaron Lauritsen.
“Once your soul is awakened, you never return to the sleepwalking state of mind. Some people become complacent in life. They are just going through the motions and not aware of truth. Seek the knowledge, wisdom, and the understandings that vivify your existence.” – Amaka Imani Nkosazana.
“Nathan made an evil-sounding cackle. “Brave words from a dead girl who forgot to load her gun.”” – C.L. Stone.
“life is a classroom. we are both student and teacher. each day is a test. and each day we receive a passing or failing grade in one particular subject: grace. grace is compassion, gratitude, surrender, faith, forgiveness, good manners, reverence, and the list goes on. it’s something money can’t buy and credentials rarely produce. being the smartest, the prettiest, the most talented, the richest, or even the poorest, can’t help. being a humble person can and being a helpful person can guide you through your days with grace and gratitude.” – philosophy.
“Do unto others…’ is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue there is. But that’s exactly what it is – a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue. No one owns being good. I’m good. I just don’t believe I’ll be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. It’s knowing that I try to do the right thing. That I lived a good life. And that’s where spirituality really lost its way. When it became a stick to beat people with. ‘Do this or you’ll burn in hell.’ You won’t burn in hell. But be nice anyway.” – Ricky Gervais.
“I will never forget what you did to me. I will never forgive it. I will never stop mourning what you stole from me. But I realize now I can’t steal it back and I’m done spending every day trying to.” – Katja Millay.
“Forgive me, Your Grace. Are you suggesting a woman is some sort of … piece of fruit to you? One squeeze, and you know if she’s ripe?” – Tessa Dare.
“The response to war is to live like brothers and sisters. The response to injustice is to share. The response to despair is a limitless trust and hope. The response to prejudice and hatred is forgiveness. To work for community is to work for humanity. To work for peace is to work for a true political solution; it is to work for the Kingdom of God. It is to work to enable every one to live and taste the secret joys of the human person united to the eternal.” – Jean Vanier.
“A place like this wears down everything, and tolerance is no exception. In here, coexistence passes for forgiveness. You do not learn to like something you abhor; you come to live with it…You live and let live, and eventually that becomes enough.” – Jodi Picoult.
“The bowed head, the buried face. She is silent, she will never speak, never forgive, never reach a hand, never leave this frozen present tense. All waits, suspended. Suspended the autumn trees, the autumn sky, anonymous people. A blackbird, poor fool, sings out of season from the willows by the lake. A flight of pigeons over the houses; fragments of freedom, hazard, an anagram made flesh. And somewhere the stinging smell of burning leaves.” – John Fowles.
“He studied the warehouse door. “I wouldn’t put it past Lorcan to return the favor you dealt him tonight. He forgets and forgives even less easily than you do. Especially when someone threatens to cut off his manhood.” “At least I said it would be a big mistake,” she said with a fiendish grin. “I was tempted to say ‘little.’” Rowan laughed, his eyes dancing. “Then you definitely would have been dead.”” – Sarah J. Maas.
“From now on, there would be no other oaths but this, no other contracts, no other obligations. Never forgive, never forget.” – Sarah J. Maas.
“While you were busy trying to prove God stands behind you, God was before me lighting the trail, so he could lead us both.” – Shannon L. Alder.
“Hypocrisy versus authenticity among men is not always so black and white, and as is righteousness, humility is often self-proclaimed. The Church is most definitely supposed to be a hospital for the spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically sick, hurting, and broken individual, yet ironically, many of its critics are those who ran away and permanently denounced its members after they visited and felt that they were sneezed on.” – Criss Jami.
“No heavenly power will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.” – Jim Morrison.
“[T]he unsympathetic assessments we make of others are usually the result of nothing more sinister than our habit of looking at them in the wrong way, through lenses clouded by distraction, exhaustion and fear, which blind us to the fact that they are really, despite a thousand differences, just altered versions of ourselves: fellow fragile, uncertain, flawed beings likewise craving love and in urgent need of forgiveness.” – Alain de Botton.
“I could not ask for forgiveness for something I had not done. As scapegoat, I could only bear the fault.” – Daphne du Maurier.
“The truest grace is not to forgive, but to have never found fault.” – Richard Paul Evans.
“How easily you forgive, Eleanor. How freely you absolve the sins of others. Tell me, little one, when the time comes, how will you absolve yours? With the first lash of the whip Nora felt a strip of fire burn across her back. She cried out from a pain so ferocious she nearly choked on it. Like this, Søren, she dared answer only in her mind. This is how.” – Tiffany Reisz
“I have a forgiveness weakness in me that I hate because it means I’d probably forgive the man who removed my heart with a blunt knife if he said he needed it more than me.” – Trent Dalton
“Minds don’t rest; they reel and wander and fixate and roll back and reconsider because it’s like this, having a mind. Hearts don’t idle; they swell and constrict and break and forgive and behold because it’s like this, having a heart. Lives don’t last; they thrill and confound and circle and overflow and disappear because it’s like this, having a life.” – Kelly Corrigan
“They construct words of forgiveness from the ruins of fighting words.” – Fredrik Backman
“Transformation begins in you, wherever you are, whatever has happened, however you are suffering. Transformation is always possible. We do not heal in isolation. When we reach out and connect with one another—when we tell the story, name the hurt, grant forgiveness, and renew or release the relationship—our suffering begins to transform.” – Desmond Tutu
“Jesus’ words, “Forgive them for they do not know what they do,” also apply to yourself.” – Eckhart Tolle
“Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass.” – Confucius
“The Death of Allegory The Valley of Forgiveness is lined with condominiums and chain saws are howling in the Forest of Despair.” – Billy Collins
“You will be at your best forever, Even now you have good moments. Occasional glimpses of your heavenly self. When you change your baby’s diaper, forgive your boss’s temper, tolerate your spouse’s moodiness, you display traces of saintliness.” – Max Lucado
“What you cant forget… God cant remember!” – John F. MacArthur Jr.
“Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others.” – Morrie Schwartz
“If you could not accept the past and its burden there was no future, for without one there cannot be the other.” – Robert Penn Warren
“Realize that in modern society, the downside risk is not that large. Even personal bankruptcy can wipe the debts clean in good ecosystems. I’m most familiar with Silicon Valley, but generally, people will forgive failures as long as you were honest and made a high-integrity effort. There’s not really that much to fear in terms of failure, and so people should take on a lot more accountability than they do. [78]” – Eric Jorgenson
“Forgiveness, they shouted, all the while committing their wrongs. When he was younger, Yaw wondered why they did not preach that the people should avoid wrongdoing altogether. But the older he got, the better he understood. Forgiveness was an act done after the fact, a piece of the bad deed’s future. And if you point the people’s eye to the future, they might not see what is being done to hurt them in the present.” – Yaa Gyasi
“Forgiveness is the economy of the heart.…forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.” – Hannah More
“I’ll always be damaged in a way. I had hoped that I could completely heal those cracks, but I’m starting to think the real trick is learning to live a full life in spite of them. Cracked people are everywhere, and so I can forgive myself for being overly anxious or easily frightened. But I will no longer allow myself to be swallowed by my past. I insist on having the happiest life I can muster, and I am in control of that now.” – Monica Holloway
“Forgiveness is mandatory; reconciliation is optional.” – Lysa TerKeurst
“I could forgive. I could be forgiven. I could forgive. Perhaps that was the whole of it after all. Perhaps being forgiven was just forgiving only no one had ever told me. There was nothing else needful. Just to forgive. Forgiving equals being forgiven, the secret of the universe, do not whatever you do forget it.” – Iris Murdoch
“Forgiveness is usually easier than permission.” – Amy Harmon
“Forgiveness makes you feel better. As soon as you forgive, you’re free.” – Karen Kingsbury
“Forgiving someone is a great way to show love, and forgive yourself too for the hurt you held onto far too long.” – Jay Woodman
“It was unforgiveable,” I said. “But I forgive you.”” – Jamie McGuire
“It is unfortunate that in most cases when the sins of the father fall on the son it is because unlike God, people refuse to forgive and forget and heap past wrongs upon innocent generations.” – E.A. Bucchianeri
“The noblest revenge is to forgive” – Thomas Fuller
“Let’s forgive someone for Valentines day, it’s a great way to show love, and forgive yourself too for the hurt you held onto.”” – Jay Woodman
“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.”” – Henri Nouwen
“Wise men say, ‘Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.”” – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”” – John Dryden
“…she had nothing to do but to forgive herself and be happier than ever…”” – Jane Austen
“I wanted to forgive;
I’m trying to forget;
Don’t leave me here again.
I am with you, forever, the end.

Holding the hand that holds me down.
I forgive you, forget you, the end.

Holding the hand that holds me down.
I forgive you, forget you, the end.” – Breaking Benjamin

“Forgiveness is mandatory; reconciliation is optional.” – Lysa TerKeurst
“I could forgive. I could be forgiven. I could forgive. Perhaps that was the whole of it after all. Perhaps being forgiven was just forgiving only no one had ever told me. There was nothing else needful. Just to forgive. Forgiving equals being forgiven, the secret of the universe, do not whatever you do forget it.” – Iris Murdoch
“Forgiveness is usually easier than permission.” – Amy Harmon
“Forgiveness makes you feel better. As soon as you forgive, you’re free.” – Karen Kingsbury
“Forgiving someone is a great way to show love, and forgive yourself too for the hurt you held onto far too long.” – Jay Woodman
“It was unforgiveable,” I said. “But I forgive you.”” – Jamie McGuire
“It is unfortunate that in most cases when the sins of the father fall on the son it is because unlike God, people refuse to forgive and forget and heap past wrongs upon innocent generations.” – E.A. Bucchianeri
“The noblest revenge is to forgive” – Thomas Fuller
“Let’s forgive someone for Valentines day, it’s a great way to show love, and forgive yourself too for the hurt you held onto.”” – Jay Woodman
“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.”” – Henri Nouwen
“Wise men say, ‘Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.”” – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”” – John Dryden
“…she had nothing to do but to forgive herself and be happier than ever…”” – Jane Austen
“Love makes us wake up in the morning with a sense of purpose and a flow of creative ideas. Love floods our nervous system with positive energy, making us far more attractive to prospective employers, clients, and creative partners. Love fills us with powerful charisma, enabling us to produce new ideas and new projects, even within circumstances that seem to be limited. Love leads us to atone for our errors and clean up the mess when we’ve made mistakes. Love leads us to act with impeccability, integrity, and excellence. Love leads us to serve, to forgive, and to hope. Those things are the opposite of a poverty consciousness; they’re the stuff of spiritual wealth creation.” – Marianne Williamson
“Take lightly what you hear about individuals. We need not distort trust for our paltry little political agendas. We tend to trust soulless, carried information more than we trust soulful human beings; but really most people aren’t so bad once you sit down and have an honest, one-on-one conversation with them, once, with an open heart, you listen to their explanations as to why they act the way they act, or say what they say, or do what they do.” – Criss Jami
“But love doesn’t control, and I suppose that’s why it’s the ultimate risk. In the end, we have to hope the person we’re giving our heart to won’t break it, and be willing to forgive them when they do, even as they will forgive us. Real love stories don’t have dictators, they have participants. Love is an ever-changing, complicated, choose-your-own adventure narrative that offers the world but guarantees nothing.” – Donald Miller
“Many people are too quick to trust someone in the name of forgiveness and not make sure that the other is producing “fruit in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8). To continue to open yourself up emotionally to an abusive or addicted person without seeing true change is foolish. Forgive, but guard your heart until you see sustained” – Henry Cloud
“We need a moderately-priced stock market… The market, like the Lord, helps those who help themselves. But, unlike the Lord, the market does not forgive those who know not what they do. For the investor, a too-high purchase price for the stock of an excellent company can undo the effects of a subsequent decade of favorable business developments.” – Warren Buffet
“ The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman. The power which the strong have over the weak, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly–the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the men in a plain light. The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true man of honor feels humbled when he cannot help humbling others.” – Robert E. Lee
“Here’s a question every angry man and woman needs to consider: How long are you going to allow people you don’t even like — people who are no longer in your life, maybe even people who aren’t even alive anymore — to control your life? How long?” – Andy Stanley
“Relax. Refresh. Renew. Play. Sing. Laugh. Enjoy. Forgive. Dance. Love. Hug. Share. Kiss. Create. Explore. Hope. Listen. Dare. Trust. Dream. Learn. TODAY!” – Steve Maraboli
“Is there an answer to the question of why bad things happen to good people?…The response would be…to forgive the world for not being perfect, to forgive God for not making a better world, to reach out to the people around us, and to go on living despite it all…no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it has happened.” – Harold Kushner
“..we were always taught, instead of waiting to be swept off our feet, to ‘expect little, forgive much’.” – Helen Fielding
“When someone insults you, even murder is forgivable? I see. What you told me is very important. You insulted that innocent old man’s life. So I changed one of your guns into a banana. You should savor your last meal as best you can.” – Hirohiko Araki
“My dear, don’t let the sun go down upon your anger – forgive each other, help each other and begin again tomorrow.” – Louisa May Alcott
“Two thousand years later, John’s call remains a wilderness call, a cry from the margins. Because we religious types are really good at building walls and retreating to temples. We’re good at making mountains out of our ideologies, obstructions out of our theologies, and hills out of our screwed-up notions of who’s in and who’s out, who’s worthy and who’s unworthy. We’re good at getting in the way. Perhaps we’re afraid that if we move, God might use people and methods we don’t approve of, that rules will be broken and theologies questioned. Perhaps we’re afraid that if we get out of the way, this grace thing might get out of hand. Well, guess what? It already has. Grace got out of hand the moment the God of the universe hung on a Roman cross and with outstretched hands looked out upon those who had hung him there and declared, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”” – Rachel Held Evans
“At some point, you have to set down the past. At some point, you have to accept that everyone was doing their best. At some point, you have to gather yourself up, and go onward into your life.” – Olivia Laing
“When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it.” – Lewis B. Smedes
“Forgiveness is a refusal to armor your own heart—a refusal to live in a constricted heart,” he said, seemingly as much to himself as to me. “Living with that openness means feeling pain. It’s not pretty, but the alternative is feeling nothing at all.” – Suleika Jaouad

Love forgiveness quotes

“i’m only human, & inadequacy is what makes us human, & if we was perfect we wdnt have nothin to strive for, so you might as well go on & forgive me pretty baby, cause i’m sorry” – Ntozake Shange
“Here’s what I learned about life when we were going through that. We’re all human and mortal. We’re all going to suffer and die. But it’s how we are with each other during those times that proves God’s here with us.” – Laura Anderson Kurk
“My dearest, I write this letter by candlelight as you lie sleeping….You are the most forgiving and peaceful man I know. God is with you, He must be, for you are the closest thing to an angel that I’ve ever seen….” – Nicholas Sparks
“People who love us do black magic on us, but they don’t know what they do. That is why we must forgive them; they don’t know what they do.” – Miguel Ruiz
“We all make mistakes. Life doesn’t come with instructions. Someone who loves you will forgive you for them. But when you hide them or lie about them, they’re no longer mistakes—they’re decisions.” – Vi Keeland
“If you love someone, really love someone, you stand by them, even when they’ve screwed up. Especially then. You forgive them for their mistakes” – Siobhan Davis
“How accommodating love is; it forgives everything.” – Isabel Allende
“You should never hate anyone, not even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You had to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.” – Jeannette Walls
“I’m just saying love has a lot to do with the power of forgiveness.” – Sawyer Bennett
“Principles are what people have instead of God. To be a Christian means among other things to be willing if necessary to sacrifice even your highest principles for God’s or your neighbour’s sake the way a Christian pacifist must be willing to pick up a baseball bat if there’s no other way to stop a man from savagely beating a child. Jesus didn’t forgive his executioners on principle but because in some unimaginable way he was able to love them. ‘Principle’ is an even duller word than ‘Religion’.” – Frederick Buechner
“When you forgive, you heal your own anger and hurt and are able to let love lead again. It’s like spring cleaning for your heart.” – Marci Shimoff
“forgive her. She loves you.” He dropped the old woman’s arm, feeling Lara’s gaze on him. Knowing she was listening. “she doesn’t know what love is.” “That’s why you should forgive her.” – Danielle L. Jensen
“I love you,” he whispered. “If you get yourself killed, I will never forgive you.” – Tamora Pierce
“Of the affairs of love . . . my only advice is to be honest. That’s your most powerful tool to unlock a heart or gain forgiveness. That is all I have to say.” – Christopher Paolini
“You are my sticky little leaf. My beautiful, sad, sticky little leaf, and I want to see you happy and whole. I’m sorry for every tear I’ve made you shed. I hope that someday you’ll be able to forgive me.” -Gabriel” – Sylvain Reynard
“If he couldn’t forgive you for what you’d done, it was clear to me he was never truly your destiny.” – Arthur Golden
“And I know things are…screwed up between us. I know that. Even if you tell me you’d rather hump a Nightcrawler’s leg than forgive me, I’m still going to be there for you.” – Jennifer L. Armentrout
“A hedgehog flies from the safety of a bush, startling me. It darts past us in a terrible hurry. Kartik nods toward the furry little thing. “Don’t mind him. He’s off to meet his lady friend.” … “She will forgive him.” – libba bray
” I like to think of love as being slightly more forgiving than time.” – Cath Crowley
“Preventing your heart from forgiving someone you love is actually a hell of a lot harder than simply forgiving them. I” – Colleen Hoover
“I forgive what you have done to me. I love my murderer – but yours! How can I?” – Emily Brontë.
“Could it be as simple as that? Could love be not grand gestures or empty vows, not promises meant to be broken, but instead a paper trail of forgiveness? A line of crumbs made of memories, to lead you back to the person who was waiting?” – Jodi Picoult.
“”Kiss me, Jewel,” he said. “For certainly this is our last night on earth. And if ever I offended against you in any matter great or small, forgive me now.”” – C.S. Lewis.
“Please understand. Please forgive me. I prayed every day for you to be alive, until hope became painful. Don’t hate me. I still love you.” – Lauren Oliver.
“Els, I don’t even know where to start. I’m so sorry. God, I’m so sorry.” “I can’t lose you, Els. I can’t believe I fucked up like this but you have to forgive me. I can’t lose you.”” – Samantha Young.
“Love as a concrete foundation for an authentically functional civilization requires the around-the-clock labors of forgiveness. Without it, Love fails, Friendship fails, Intelligence fails, Humanity: fails.” – Aberjhani.
“Could it be as simple as that? Could love be not grand gestures or empty vows, not promises meant to be broken, but instead a paper trail of forgiveness? A line of crumbs made of memories, to lead you back to the person who was waiting?” – Jodi Picoult.
“You have my implicit forgiveness, you know, even when you’re driving me crazy.” . . . “Jamie.” “Charlotte.” “Do come home soon. It won’t be London without you.” “You never knew me in London.” “I know. I intend to fix that.”” – Brittany Cavallaro
“Forgive her. She loves you.” He dropped the old woman’s arm, feeling Lara’s gaze on him. Knowing she was listening. “She doesn’t know what love is.” “That’s why you should forgive her.”” – Danielle L. Jensen
“I would encourage you to make your own investigation of the one whom, as He died, prayed for those who killed Him: ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do.’ That is love’s ultimate expression.” – Gary Chapman
“Forgiveness is a big deal to Jesus, and like that guy in high school with a garage band, he talks about it, like, all the time.”” – Nadia Bolz-Weber
“There’s a beauty to forgiveness, especially forgiveness that goes beyond rationality. Unconditional love is an illogical notion, but such a great & powerful one” – A.J. Jacobs
“i’m only human, & inadequacy is what makes us human, & if we was perfect we wdnt have nothin to strive for, so you might as well go on & forgive me pretty baby, cause i’m sorry” – Ntozake Shange
“Here’s what I learned about life when we were going through that. We’re all human and mortal. We’re all going to suffer and die. But it’s how we are with each other during those times that proves God’s here with us.” – Laura Anderson Kurk
“People who love us do black magic on us, but they don’t know what they do. That is why we must forgive them; they don’t know what they do.” – Miguel Ruiz
“Shouldn’t they forgive that in each other? Shouldn’t they move beyond the little weaknesses they’re hiding at the bottom of drawers?” – Milan Kundera
“Of the affairs of love . . . my only advice is to be honest. That’s your most powerful tool to unlock a heart or gain forgiveness. That is all I have to say.” – Christopher Paolini
“Her forgiveness, and love and strength and everything that made her pure stole me from my life of pain.” – Pepper Winters
“Our forgiving love toward men is the evidence of God’s forgiving love in us. It is a necessary condition of the prayer of faith.” – Andrew Murray.
“I know you didn’t feel them, and when you spoke them they stung you. I know because I know you. I forgive because my heart has not the room to deface you.” – Coco J. Ginger.
“The very first part in healing is shattering the silence,” – Erin Merryn.

Self-forgiveness quotes

“Forgive yourself.” – Mitch Albom
“For only the good doubt their own goodness, which is what makes them good in the first place. The bad know they are good, but the good know nothing. They spend their lives forgiving others, but they can’t forgive themselves.” – Paul Auster
“You can still make today the day you change yourself, love yourself, forgive yourself, respect yourself, honor yourself, cherish yourself, admire yourself, express yourself, be true to yourself… It’s never too late!” – Steve Maraboli
“I think when someone accepts you for the first time… you feel like you can forgive yourself a little. You can begin to face your fears. ~Yuki” – Natsuki Takaya
“I dedicate this to all those who did not live to tell it. And may they please forgive me for not having seen it all nor remembered it all, for not having divined all of it – from The Gulag Archipelago” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“Resentment is one burden that is incompatible with your success. Always be the first to forgive; and forgive yourself first always.” – Dan Zadra
“Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen
“Free yourself from the poisonous and laborious burden of holding a grudge. When you hold a grudge, you want someone else’s sorrow to reflect your level of hurt, but the two rarely meet. Let go… Sometimes, forgiveness is simply a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on.” – Steve Maraboli
“Jung has so eloquently written of this biblical admonition: Acceptance of oneself is the essence of the moral problem and the acid test of one’s whole outlook on life. That I feed the beggar, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of Christ—all these are undoubtedly great virtues. What I do unto the least of my brethren, that I do unto Christ. But what if I should discover that the least amongst them all, the poorest of all beggars, the most impudent of all offenders, yea the very fiend himself—that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness, that I myself am the enemy who must be loved—what then?48” – James Hollis
“You will never be able to end any battle if the people involved are unable to see their own hypocrisy, or how their insecurity contributed to their problems. Wounded people often choose to play the victim, so they can restore their dignity in unhealthy ways. Sadly, they do this through feeling justified, by making bad choices or actions (that honestly no diety would want them to do). This inability to accept their part in their unhappiness keeps them from growing. They need your prayers more than your anger. Just walk away. Let it go and pray that one day they will understand your pain, as much as you do theirs. Remember: The sexiest woman alive is one that can walk away from a place that God doesn’t want them to be. Do so with your head held high and forgive yourself and others. When you can do this, you will know what God’s definition of class is– YOU!” – Shannon L. Alder
“I tried to manipulate and control people and I harbored resentment. I wanted to be forgiven but I wouldn’t forgive others.” – Lauryn Hill
“They spend their lives forgiving others, but they can’t forgive themselves.” – Paul Auster
“Forgiveness is healing. Especially forgiving yourself” – Alyson Noel
“And we’re all good, everything is forgiven between Beethoven and me because this is the part of me that hasn’t changed. In this monent I’m not defined by the other things, the things that happened to me, the things I didn’t choose. This is the part of me that defines me for all time, for always. The thing I choose completely.” – Daisy Whitney
“The reason we’ll never be anything more than friends isn’t because of your rules. It’s because you have no faith in me. Even now, when I’ve survived against all odds and bonded not just one dragon but two, you still think I won’t make it. So forgive me, but you’re about to be some of the bullshit that this place cuts away from me.” – Rebecca Yarros
“You can’t always expect people to apply your wisdom when they didn’t use wisdom before they found themselves knee deep in their version of justice.” – Shannon L. Alder
“I honestly think in order to be a writer, you have to learn to be reverent. If not, why are you writing? Why are you here? Let’s think of reverence as awe, as presence in and openness to the world. The alternative is that we stultify, we shut down. Think of those times when you’ve read prose or poetry that is presented in such a way that you have a fleeting sense of being startled by beauty or insight, by a glimpse into someone’s soul. All of a sudden everything seems to fit together or at least to have some meaning for a moment. This is our goal as writers, I think; to help others have this sense of — please forgive me — wonder, of seeing things anew, things that can catch us off guard, that break in on our small, bordered worlds.” – Anne Lamott
“If it is committed in the name of God or country, there is no crime so heinous that the public will not forgive it.” – Tom Robbins
“Women are so unfair. Just by smiling once, they could make you forgive them for everything.” – Go Ikeyamada
“What I cannot forgive is dishonesty – and no matter what, or how hard, I would rather know the truth of which I today had such a clear & devastating vision from his mouth than hear foul evasions, blurrings and rattiness.” – Sylvia Plath
“So I know she forgives me, just as I forgive her. Thomas Edison’s last words were: “It’s very beautiful over there.” I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.” – John Green
“Damn Alex and his resolve. If I died a virgin, I’d never forgive him.” – Sarah Alderson
“But people didn’t forgive you for doing what felt right-that was the last thing they forgave you for.” – Chad Harbach
“One thing about great art: it made you love people more, forgive them their petty transgressions. It worked in the way that religion was supposed to, if you thought about it.” – Nick Hornby
“It worries me that I can be so explosive one day — volatile enough to commit a murder-suicide — and then the next day I’m watching Bogart save the day with Walt, like nothing happened at all, and nothing is urgent, and I really don’t have to do anything to set the world right or escape my own mind.” – Matthew Quick
“What do you think? Should I forgive him? \”I think what he told you was an explanation, but it wasn’t an excuse for how he behaved. If you forgive him, do it for yourself, not for him. It’s a waste of your time to be angry,\” Magnus said, \”when you’re one of the most loving people I’ve known.”” – Cassandra Clare
“Then it comes to me. It cannot be that this is the first time I realized this, but it is. We all have ugly parts. I think of the time in the cafeteria when Jasmine asked me what the girl in the picture was asking me. How do we live with all the suffering? We see our ugly parts, and then we are able to forgive, love kindness, walk humbly.” – Francisco X. Stork
“When you slip up and let yourself back into old, toxic patterns of thinking, forgive yourself before you try to fix yourself.” – Vironika Tugaleva
“Being able to return to the books was a sanctuary for my heart. And a joy bolted free, lessening my own grievances, forgiving spent youth and dying dreams lost to a hard life, the hard land, and to folks’ hard thoughts and partialities.” – Kim Michele Richardson
“I have learned that one must forgive oneself the past or else the journey into the future becomes unbearable” – Kate Morton
“Sometimes a person needs to hear you forgive them so they can start to forgive themselves.” – Rachel Gibson
“The hardest person to forgive is someone I’ve still to confront: myself.” – Edith Eger
“You can’t change what has already happened. What you did or decided. So you have two choices. Wallow in it, stay in the chokehold of guilt and shame that holds you back from the next phase of your life”—she taps the pad with the pen—“or decide you’ve punished yourself long enough for things you can never change and set a date when you’ll forgive yourself and move forward.” – Kennedy Ryan
“No one starts as a self-hater. But rack up all of your mistakes and take a large enough number of wrong turns in life and soon you stop trying to forgive yourself. Everywhere you look you find shame or failure staring back.” – André Aciman.
“Faith,” said Jem. “That you were better than you thought you were. Forgiveness, that you need not always punish yourself. I always loved you, Will. Whatever you did. And now I need you to do for me what I connot do for myself. For you to be my eyes when I do not have them. For you to be my hands when I cannot use my own. For you to be my heart when mine is done with beating.” – Cassandra Clare.
“I am so fucking in love with you I can’t see straight. I don’t love her. I’ll never love her. But I fucked up and now I have to pay for it. I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you,” he said. “Or losing you.” – J. Sterling.
“And you shouldn’t blame yourself. Learn from it. Grow from it, but don’t allow it to consume you again. Easier said than done, I know.” – T.J. Klune.
“How easily a life can become a litany of guilt and regret, a song that keeps echoing with the same chorus, with the inability to forgive ourselves. How easily the life we didn’t live becomes the only life we prize. How easily we are seduced by the fantasy that we are in control, that we were ever in control, that the things we could or should have doneor said have the power, if only we had done or said them, to cure pain, to erase suffering, to vanish loss. How easily we can cling to – worship – the choice we think we could or should have made.” – Edith Eva Eger.
“Keep weeding, Dad. Weed your mind. And man the great light. Even when no one is looking” – Matthew Quick.
“Life is a whirlwind of many opportunities. Choose to embrace all of them in deepest gratitude. Learn to forgive yourself and honour the heart that beats within you, as well as the head that rests on your shoulders. Learn how to believe in people again and not be judging or cynical to various beliefs.” – Michelle Cruz-Rosado.
“Forgive me, philosophers, I read the Stoics but never understood them. Forgive me, faith, for never having any. I did not believe in God, who eluded me.” – Edward Hirsch.
“Jordan. Jordan tattoos the words FORGIVE ME in thick black letters down the inside of his arm so that when he looks at his wrist he will remember not to hate himself so much.” – Buddy Wakefield.
“Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves.” – Kevin Kwan.
“I do not always love myself. I do not always forgive myself. I write apology letters and do not send them. Usually, I do not mean it when I tell someone goodbye.” – Kristina Haynes
“How do we forgive ourselves for all of the things we did not become?”” – Doc Luben
“God is the ultimate judge of what is truly in our souls. But we are requiered to forgive everyone.”” – Bree Despain
“But avoidance allows you to believe that you’re making all kinds of strides when you’re not.”” – Liz Murray
“Colour outside the lines, live outside the box. Don’t let anyone tell you what to do, or not. Don’t be afraid, listen to your heart.
Heaven is a state of being – of one-ness, and Hell is a state of being – lost. We simply need to live as we best define ourselves, find our own ways of being who we are in our world.
There is no requirement – only freedom of choice. We should not be judged if we are doing what we think best according to our perceptions at any given time.
Guilt should be discarded, moved beyond – what matters is who we choose to be in the next moment, given what we might have learned. We continually create ourselves anew.
Forgiving someone is a great way to show love, and forgive yourself too for the hurt you held onto far too long.
Take back the energy you have wasted on these things and reclaim your power to be your next best self.
Honour the past but refresh, expand, renew, fulfill. Heaven is within us, always reachable.”” – Jay Woodman
““Search for the answers I knew all along;
I lost myself,
We all fall down;
Never the wiser of what I’ve become
Alone I stand,
A broken man…

All I have is one last chance.
I won’t turn my back on you.
Take my hand,
Drag me down.
If you fall,
Then I will too.
And I can’t save what’s left of you…

(Chorus)
Sing something new,
I have nothing left.
I can’t face the dark without you.
There’s nothing left to lose,
The fight never ends.
I can’t face the dark without you.

Swallow me under and pull me apart.
I understand;
There’s nothing left.
Pain so familiar and close to the heart;
No more no less,
I won’t forget.

Come back down,
Save yourself.
I can’t find my way to you.
And I can’t bear to face the truth…

(chorus)

I wanted to forgive;
I’m trying to forget;
Don’t leave me here again.
I am with you, forever, the end.

(chorus)

Holding the hand that holds me down.
I forgive you, forget you, the end.

Holding the hand that holds me down.
I forgive you, forget you, the end.” – Breaking Benjamin

Inspirational forgiveness quotes

“Christ’s atonement fully satisfied the demands of God’s righteousness, so forgiveness and mercy are guaranteed to those who receive Christ in humble, repentant faith.” – John F. MacArthur Jr.
“Don’t dwell too much on the past. The lessons are useful for the present and a preparation for the future. Move on!” – Lailah Gifty Akita
“Recognize that God is with you. * Acknowledge God knows what He’s doing. * Search for God’s will: the path He desires you to take in life. * Consider what God did for you when He sent Jesus to die on the cross (forgiveness and righteousness)” – Brennan Manning
“None of us are bad people. We float around and we run across each other and we learn about ourselves, and we make mistakes and we do great things. We hurt others, we hurt ourselves, we make others happy and we please ourselves. We can and should forgive ourselves and each other for that.” – Dan Harmon
“No matter how many sins you make or how slow you travel back toward God’s valley, you are still way ahead of a person who never made a mistake and doesn’t know what it is like to climb out of a pit of shame and rise above their temptations.” – Shannon L. Alder
“God, help me to tell the thruth to the strong and to avoid telling lies to get the weak’s applause. … Teach me that forgiving is the most important in the strong and that revenge is the most primitive sigh in the weak. If I fall people, give me courage to apologize and if people fail me, give me courage to forgive them. God, if I forget you, please do not forget me.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“You must forgive those who hurt you, even if whatever they did to you is unforgivable in your mind. You will forgive them not because they deserve to be forgiven, but because you don’t want to suffer and hurt yourself every time you” – Miguel Ruiz
“To be angry is easy, but to forgive is hard. That’s why to love is easy, and to love is hard. I try to be so hard that I’m soft, like a liquid rock, fluid and forgiving, but unmovable in my resolve.” – Jarod Kintz
“You never know how long you have-there might not BE a later-so don’t let things go unsaid or unforgiven.” – Dawn Metcalf
“Forgiving’s a choice you make—a gift you give to somebody even if they don’t deserve it. It costs nothing, but it makes you feel rich for giving it away.” – Lurlene McDaniel
“Jim [Henson] had written letters to his five children to be opened only after his death. Brian read from his. Jim wrote, ‘Be good to each other. Love and forgive everybody.’ I remembered Jim telling me that he never wasted energy on hating anybody; he had too much thinking to do.” – Caroll Spinney
“Happy ending are only a pause. There are three kinds of big endings: Revenge. Tragedy. Forgiveness. Revenge and Tragedy often happen together. Forgiveness redeems the past. Forgiveness unblocks the future.” – Jeanette Winterson
“God has left sin in the world in order that there may be forgiveness: not only the secret forgiveness by which He Himself cleanses our souls, but the manifest forgiveness by which we have mercy on one another and so give expression to the fact that He is living, by His mercy, in our own hearts.” – Thomas Merton
“Here’s what I learned about life when we were going through that. We’re all human and mortal. We’re all going to suffer and die. But it’s how we are with each other during those times that proves God’s here with us.” – Laura Anderson Kurk
“Is this what you have in mind,’ I asked the Dalai Lama, ‘when you say in teachings that the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the world are the most selfish beings of all, that by cultivating altruism they actually achieve ultimate happiness for themselves?’ Yes. That’s wise selfish,’ he replied. ‘Helping others not means we do this at our own expense. Not like this. Buddhas and bodhisattvas, these people very wise. All their lives they only want one thing: to achieve ultimate happiness. How to do this? By cultivating compassion, by cultivating altruism.” – Dalai Lama XIV
“But when we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain flexible but not relativistic, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft and true witnesses without being manipulative.” – Brennan Manning
“Resentment is one burden that is incompatible with your success. Always be the first to forgive; and forgive yourself first always.” – Dan Zadra
“Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen
“Free yourself from the poisonous and laborious burden of holding a grudge. When you hold a grudge, you want someone else’s sorrow to reflect your level of hurt, but the two rarely meet. Let go… Sometimes, forgiveness is simply a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on.” – Steve Maraboli
“If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive.” – Bhagwad Geeta
“Remember – it’s always easier to get forgiveness than permission” – Banksy
“Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society must take the place of the victim, and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness.” – W.H. Auden
“Maintain a forgiving attitude!” – Tae Yun Kim
“Instead of negotiating or begging for mercy, [my brother Damascene] challenged them to kill him. “Go ahead,” he said. “What are you waiting for? Today is my day to go to God. I can feel Him all around us. He is watching, waiting to take me home. Go ahead–finish your work and send me to paradise. I pity you for killing people like it’s some kind of child’s game. Murder is no game: If you offend God, you will pay for your fun. The blood of the innocent people you cut down will follow you to your reckoning. But I am praying for you. . . I pray that you see the evil you’re doing and ask God’s forgiveness before it’s too late.” – Immaculee Ilibagiza
“To the Dalai Lama, suffering and adversity are the necessary conditions for developing patience and tolerance. These qualities are vital if we want to reduce negative emotions like hatred or anger. When things go well, we have less need to be patient and forgiving. It’s only when we come across problems, when we suffer, that we truly learn these virtues. Once we internalize them, compassion flows naturally.” – Victor Chan
“My spirituality is most active, not in meditation, but in the moments when: I realize God may have gotten something beautiful done through me despite the fact that I am an asshole, and when I am confronted by the mercy of the gospel so much that I cannot hate my enemies, and when I am unable to judge the sin of someone else (which, let’s be honest, I love to do) because my own crap is too much in the way, and when I have to bear witness to another human being’s suffering despite my desire to be left alone, and when I am forgiven by someone even though I don’t deserve it and my forgiver does this because he, too, is trapped by the gospel, and when traumatic things happen in the world and I have nowhere to place them or make sense of them but what I do have is a group of people who gather with me every week, people who will mourn and pray with me over the devastation of something like a school shooting, and when I end up changed by loving someone I’d never choose out of a catalog but whom God sends my way to teach me about God’s love.” – Nadia Bolz-Weber
“I have made up my mind that if there is a God, he will be merciful to the merciful. Upon that rock I stand. – That he will not torture the forgiving. – Upon that rock I stand.” – Robert G. Ingersoll
“All major religious traditions carry basically the same message: that is love, compassion and forgiveness. The important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.” – Dalai Lama XIV
“For as we forgive, we are forgiven; as we condemn others, we are ourselves condemned. Thus in patience condemn not, neither find fault; not condoning, not agreeing, but let thine own life so shine that others, seeing thy patience, knowing thy understanding, comprehending thy peace, may take hope.” – Edgar Cayce
“Sir Thomas More was a victim of injustice and irony. Generously and meekly, just as he was about to be martyred, he said: Paul . . . was present, and consented to the death of St. Stephen, and kept their clothes that stoned him to death, and yet be they [Stephen and Paul] now both twain Holy Saints in heaven, and shall continue there friends for ever, so I verily trust and . . . pray, that though your lordships have now here in earth been judges to my condemnation, we may yet hereafter in heaven merrily all meet together, to our everlasting salvation.” – Neal A. Maxwell
“Yield to yourself. Yield to forgiveness. Yield to happiness. Yield to this moment. It’s not hers. It’s yours. It’s mine. It’s ours.” – Brigid Kemmerer.
“But our hearts are more elastic than we think, and the work of forgiveness and transformation and growth can do things you can’t even imagine from where you’re standing now.” – Shauna Niequist.
“We must try again to be alive to what the people of our country really long for in our national life: forgiveness and grace, maturity and wisdom. …Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.” – Peggy Noonan.
“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond who you were.” – Jonathan Anthony Burkett.
“If her past were your past, her pain your pain, her level of consciousness your level of consciousness, you would think and act exactly as she does. With this realization comes forgiveness, compassion, peace.” – Eckhart Tolle.
“You have the power to take away someone’s happiness by refusing to forgive. That someone is you.” – Alan Cohen.
“Tough times don’t define you, they refine you. ‪” – Carlos A. Rodriguez.
“Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” – Indira Gandhi.
“I don’t want to wait anymore. I choose to believe that there is nothing more sacred or profound than this day.I choose to believe that there may be a thousand big moments embedded in this day, waiting to be discovered like tiny shards of gold. The big moments are the daily, tiny moments of courage and forgiveness and hope that we grad onto and extend to one another. That’s the drama of life, swirling all around us, and generally I don’t see it, because I’m too busy waiting to become whatever it is I think I’m about to become. The big moments are in every hour, every conversation, every meal, every meeting.” – Shauna Niequist.
“Don’t wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving; you will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made.” – Neil Anderson.
“Once your soul is awakened, you never return to the sleepwalking state of mind. Some people become complacent in life. They are just going through the motions and not aware of truth. Seek the knowledge, wisdom, and the understandings that vivify your existence.” – Amaka Imani Nkosazana.
“The response to war is to live like brothers and sisters. The response to injustice is to share. The response to despair is a limitless trust and hope. The response to prejudice and hatred is forgiveness. To work for community is to work for humanity. To work for peace is to work for a true political solution; it is to work for the Kingdom of God. It is to work to enable every one to live and taste the secret joys of the human person united to the eternal.” – Jean Vanier.
“Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.” – Dag Hammarskjöld.
“Love as a concrete foundation for an authentically functional civilization requires the around-the-clock labors of forgiveness. Without it, Love fails, Friendship fails, Intelligence fails, Humanity: fails.” – Aberjhani.
“Life is a whirlwind of many opportunities. Choose to embrace all of them in deepest gratitude. Learn to forgive yourself and honour the heart that beats within you, as well as the head that rests on your shoulders. Learn how to believe in people again and not be judging or cynical to various beliefs.” – Michelle Cruz-Rosado.
“[T]he unsympathetic assessments we make of others are usually the result of nothing more sinister than our habit of looking at them in the wrong way, through lenses clouded by distraction, exhaustion and fear, which blind us to the fact that they are really, despite a thousand differences, just altered versions of ourselves: fellow fragile, uncertain, flawed beings likewise craving love and in urgent need of forgiveness.” – Alain de Botton.
“The truest grace is not to forgive, but to have never found fault.” – Richard Paul Evans.
“The Evil punish. The Good forgive.” – Soman Chainani
“Praying for forgiveness. Praying for grace. Praying for mercy.” – Tommy Wallach
“Forgiveness must be initiated before life can begin.” – Asa Don Brown
“the only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you are—not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving—and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and to try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad—or good—it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all.” – Hanya Yanagihara
“To me, when someone wrongs you, you both share the burden of that wrongdoing—the pain of it weighs on both of you. Forgiveness, then, means choosing to bear the full weight all by yourself.” – Veronica Roth
“We all make mistakes, we all have fears, and we all have weaknesses. Behind all that is our essential self. When our essential self has made contact with another, the light is dazzling and would fill the universe. The challenge of enchantment is to remain faithful to that light, to believe in it when it is not so apparent. Then that light becomes an incandescent glow and it wraps itself around everything.” – Marianne Williamson
“You have to let go of those feelings, Ra. Anger, fear, regret. It’s the only way you can forgive yourself and love again.” – Winna Efendi
“People withhold their forgiveness, thinking that it makes them badass. But really, the unwillingness to forgive is merely the wishing that things were better. You wish that you had better, you wish that someone else were better so they could have treated you better… it’s you making wishes. And that’s not badass. To forgive is to be able to look at the person and say “I accept that you weren’t any better than what you were”, “I accept what you were you and couldn’t have been what I wished you to be”, “I accept that things were the way they were and weren’t any better.” The ability to forgive is intertwined with the ability to accept the reality of the way things are/ the way a person is or was. You stop wishing things and you just accept. And hope is what says to you: “One day you’ll have what’s better.”” – C. JoyBell C.
“And what of regrets? I shall live with them. I shall accept my regrets as part of my life, to be numbered among my self-inflicted wounds. But I will not endlessly gaze at them. I shall allow the memories to prod me into doing better with those still living. And I shall allow them to sharpen the vision and intensify the hope for that Great Day coming when we can all throw ourselves into each other’s arms and say, “I’m sorry.”” – Nicholas Wolterstorff

Asking for forgiveness quotes

“LET’S GO BACK HOME

I can’t think about you,
Without smiling.
What I wouldn’t give,
To go back there,
Take you in my arms,
Kiss you,
And tell you,
“I still love you.”

It’s been three decades now,
And still your smile’s with me,
Your wave goodbye,
The love in your eyes,
And everything else you gave me,
Before that highway fog swept in,
And stole your spirit away.

Oh- to return by your side again,
Fish beside the Pleasant Hill Dam,
Hike through the Mayer’s woods,
Hang out on your big hill,
Sleep naked in your twin bed,
Fill your room with laughter-
And marijuana smoke.

You returned home-
And I traveled on down the road,
Found new loves,
Safely took them under my wing,
And deeply into my heart.

But you know, as I do-
This wasn’t always possible.
I didn’t always have the fire-
The courage to stand tall,
The joy to expand,
Nor the love to give deeply.
These were all your gifts–
To me.

Someday-
When I close my eyes for good,
And cry out-
“Lord- forgive me for I have sinned-“
I’ll joyously return by your side,
Take you into my arms,
Kiss you,
And tell you,
“I still love you.” – Giorge Leedy

“…When I close my eyes for good,
And cry out-
“Lord- forgive me for I have sinned-“” – Giorge Leedy
“Please forgive me, my dear Mr. Lightwood-I mean Gideon- but I must go murder the cook. I shall be directly back.” – Cassandra Clare
“You stretch out your hands and you say God forgive me that I can’t love but bless this thing anyway…” – Graham Greene
“Goodbye, master, my dear! Forgive your Sam. He’ll come back to this spot when the job’s done – if he manages it. And then he’ll not leave you again. Rest you quiet till I come; and may no foul creature come anigh you! And if the Lady could hear me and give me one wish, I would wish to come back and find you again. Good bye!” – J.R.R. Tolkien.
“i’m only human, & inadequacy is what makes us human, & if we was perfect we wdnt have nothin to strive for, so you might as well go on & forgive me pretty baby, cause i’m sorry” – Ntozake Shange
“I fucking need you and I need you to forgive me. I need that more than anything in the world! I need you to make me good.” – Karina Halle
“But an apology too — you think you’re giving something, but you’re not. You’re really asking for something. You’re asking for forgiveness, you’re asking for the other injured person to make it okay for you. Apologies were harder work for the person getting one than the person giving one.” – Deb Caletti
“Do forgive me…. I’ve no reputation of my own, and I forget they matter.” – Saundra Mitchell
“I don’t like this,” he said. I don’t like knowing you can’t forgive me, Claire. Please, I said I was sorry, what do you want me to do? Beg?I will. I’ll get on my knees right here if you want.” – Rachel Caine
“De pronto no puedo decirte lo que yo te debo decir, hombre,perdóname; sabrás que aunque no escuches mis palabras no me eché a llorar ni a dormir y que contigo estoy sin verte desde hace tiempo y hasta el fin. I can’t just suddenly tell you what I should be telling you, friend, forgive me; you know that although you don’t hear my words, I wasn’t asleep or in tears, that I am with you without seeing you for a good long time and until the end.” – Pablo Neruda
“Can you possible find it in your cold little green heart to forgive me?” – David Eddings.
“I hope my son will forgive me. He will never know. No one will ever know.” – Tatiana de Rosnay.
“No, forgive me. If you no longer live, if you, beloved, my love, if you have died, all the leaves will fall in my breast, it will rain on my soul night and day, the snow will burn my heart, I shall walk with frost and fire and death and snow, my feet will want to walk to where you are sleeping, but I shall stay alive, because above all things you wanted me indomitable, and, my love, because you know that I am not only a man but all mankind.” – Pablo Neruda
“\”Forgive me, please.” He clutched my hand as his eyes beseeched me through tears of pain. “You’re forgiven.\”” – Maria V. Snyder
“\”Majesty, I beg your forgiveness for the idignity you suffered and offer you the head of our enemy as—\”” – MaryJanice Davidson
“I’ve loved you my whole life, Chas, from that first day you took me home after Michelle died. And I’m terrified you’ll leave me or you’ll stop loving me or even worse, something will happen to you. But I can’t be without you anymore.” … “Today I watched Mike give away the woman he loves. I can’t do that, Chas. I thought I could, I thought it would be better if you were with someone else, but I was wrong. And I swear to you, I will love you the rest of my life and nothing will ever come before you. Please, Chastity. Forgive me and marry me and have a bunch of babies with me, and I’ll-” – Kristan Higgins.
“In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill. You promised me you’d take me there again someday. But because of me, you were never able to. Well, I’m alone there now… In our ”“special place.” Waiting for you… Waiting for you to come to see me. But you never do. And so I wait, wrapped in my cocoon of pain and loneliness. I know I’ve done a terrible thing to you. Something you’ll never forgive me for. I wish I could change that, but I can’t. I feel so pathetic and ugly lying here, waiting for you… Every day I stare up at the cracks in the ceiling, and all I can think about is how unfair it all is… The doctor came today. He told me I could go home for a short stay. It’s not that I’m getting better. It’s just that this may be my last chance… I think you know what I mean… Even so, I’m glad to be coming home. I’ve missed you terribly. But I’m afraid James. I’m afraid you don’t really want me to come home. Whenever you come see me, I can tell how hard it is on you… I don’t know if you hate me or pity me… Or maybe I just disgust you…. I’m sorry about that. When I first learned that I was going to die, I just didn’t want to accept it. I was so angry all the time, and I struck out at everyone I loved most. Especially you, James. That’s why I understand if you do hate me. But I want you to know this, James. I’ll always love you. Even though our life together had to end like this, I still wouldn’t trade it for the world. We had some wonderful years together. Well, this letter has gone on too long, so I’ll say goodbye. I told the nurse to give this to you after I’m gone. That means that when you read this, I’ll already be dead. I can’t tell you to remember me, but I can’t bear for you to forget me. These last few years since I became ill…I’m so sorry for what I did to you, did to us… You’ve given me so much and I haven’t been able to return a single thing. That’s why I want you to live for yourself now. Do what’s best for you, James. James… You made me happy. “I love you, Mary.” As the car began to slowly sink to the bottom of the lake, James pulled his wife close and gently held her. Their wish had finally come true. They would be together. And now they had an eternity to enjoy their happiness.” – Sadamu Yamashita.
“”Kiss me, Jewel,” he said. “For certainly this is our last night on earth. And if ever I offended against you in any matter great or small, forgive me now.”” – C.S. Lewis.
“Please understand. Please forgive me. I prayed every day for you to be alive, until hope became painful. Don’t hate me. I still love you.” – Lauren Oliver.
“Els, I don’t even know where to start. I’m so sorry. God, I’m so sorry.” “I can’t lose you, Els. I can’t believe I fucked up like this but you have to forgive me. I can’t lose you.”” – Samantha Young.
“Forgive me,” he went on. “For a long time I have had the peculiar habit of not arriving but appearing.”” – Milan Kundera.
“Forgive me-he mumbled against her lips. Please. Forgive me for what I’m going to do to you. ~Shade” – Larissa Ione
“When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down And ask of thee forgiveness.” – William Shakespeare

Deep forgiveness quotes

“Ellen’s life was not easy, nor was it happy, but she did not expect life to be easy, and, if it was not happy, that was woman’s lot. It was a man’s world, and she accepted it as such. The man owned the property, and the woman managed it. The man took credit for the management, and the woman praised his cleverness. The man roared like a bull when a splinter was in his finger, and the woman muffled the moans of childbirth, lest she disturb him. Men were rough of speech and often drunk. Women ignored the lapses of speech and put the drunkards to bed without bitter words. Men were rude and outspoken, women were always kind, gracious and forgiving.” – Margaret Mitchell.
“You are not a victim. You are a willing participant that has created your own anxiety through your negative mind, insecurities and actions. If you want to secure your future then the only way is through love, forgiveness and the willingness to admit you have participated in the uncomfortableness you are experiencing now. Stop telling yourself you are justified in hate, indifference, silence or bias. You are not. You can’t build a positive life through battling others. The world is full of victims. No one wants to hear that story. People want to know how you did what the majority wouldn’t do-you forgave and built up your enemies. It is seems totally rare and unheard of these days to swallow your pain and take the high road, but guess what? Those are the leaders that people admire and want to know. Those are the 1% who change the world and people’s lives. So why do you want to be like the world when you can be beyond it?” – Shannon L. Alder.
“Every time you ask for forgiveness, you recognize that the biggest problems you face in life exist inside of you, not outside of you.” – Paul David Tripp
“It’s very possible and very okay to forgive someone and still not want to spend time with them” – Karen Salmansohn
“I saw myself before an infuriated mob, facing the firing squad, weeping out of pity for the evil they could not understand, and forgiving!-Like Jeanne d’Arc!” – Arthur Rimbaud
“To forgive is merely to remember only the loving thoughts you gave in the past, and those that were given you.” – Foundation for Inner Peace
“Now one day, maybe I can forgive John Andersen for what he done to these trees, but I ain’t gonna forget it. I figure forgiving is not letting something nag at you—rotting you out.” – Mildred D. Taylor
“Beyond that, the purpose of Hell is not so much to forget the details of our lives as it is to forgive them.” – Chuck Palahniuk
“Does giving your piece of mind, bring a peace of mind? Or is it better to be silent and let the war inside subside?” – Anthony Liccione
“Politics deals with externals: borders, wealth, crimes. Authentic forgiveness deals with the evil in a persons heart, something for which politics has no cure. Virulent evil (racism, ethnic hatred) spreads through society like an airborne disease, one cough infects a whole busload. When moments of grace do occur, the world must pause, fall silent, and acknowledge that indeed forgiveness offers a kind of cure. There will be no escape from wars, from hunger, from misery, from rancid discrimination, from denial of human rights, if our hearts aren’t changed.” – Phillip Yancey
“In the darkness of night,
Demons strut, taunting, goading.
In the light of day,
Angels sing glorious songs.
In the time in between,
We live our lives alone and searching.
And sometimes, softly,
You understand damnation.
All is forgotten, all is lost,
All but forgiveness
And the memory of her kiss.” – Lisa Mangum
“How imperious the homicidal madness must have become if they’re willing to pardon—no, forget!—the theft of a can of meat! True, we have got into the habit of admiring colossal bandits, whose opulence is revered by the entire world, yet whose existence, once we stop to examine it, proves to be one long crime repeated ad infinitum, but those same bandits are heaped with glory, honors, and power, their crimes are hallowed by the law of the land, whereas, as far back in history as the eye can see—and history, as you know is my business—everything conspires to show that a venial theft, especially of inglorious foodstuffs, such as bread crusts, ham, or cheese, unfailingly subjects its perpetrator to irreparable opprobrium, the categoric condemnation of the community, major punishment, automatic dishonor, and inexpiable shame, and this for two reasons, first because the perpetrator of such an offense is usually poor, which in itself connotes basic unworthiness, and secondly because his act implies, as it were, a tacit reproach to the community. A poor man’s theft is seen as a malicious attempt at individual redress . . . Where would we be? Note accordingly that in all countries the penalties for petty theft are extrememly severe, not only as a means of defending society, but also as a stern admonition to the unfortunate to know their place, stick to their caste, and behave themselves, joyfully resigned to go on dying of hunger and misery down through the centuries forever and ever . . . Until today, however, petty thieves enjoyed one advantage in the Republic, they were denied the honor of bearing patriotic arms. But that’s all over now, tomorrow I, a theif, will resume my place in the army . . . Such are the orders . . . It has been decided in high places to forgive and forget what they call my momentary madness, and this, listen carefully, in consideration of what they call the honor of my family. What solicitude! I ask you, comrade, is it my family that is going to serve as a strainer and sorting house for mixed French and German bullets? . . . It’ll just be me wont it? And when I’m dead is the honor of my family going to bring me back to life?” – Louis-Ferdinand Céline
“For a Coming Extinction

Gray whale
Now that we are sending you to The End
That great god
Tell him
That we who follow you invented forgiveness
And forgive nothing” – W.S. Merwin

“Maybe the play wasn’t about miracles. No, maybe it was about the passage of time, and the need for patience, and the ability to forgive.” – Brian Selznick
“To be sorry you hurt me is not enough for me to forgive you.” – Adi Alsaid
“A very important but difficult piece of renewing relationships is accepting responsibility for our part in any conflict. If we have a relationship in need of repair, we must remember that the wrong is not usually all on one side, and we are more easily able to restore relations when we look at our contribution to a conflict.” – Desmond Tutu
“God has left sin in the world in order that there may be forgiveness: not only the secret forgiveness by which He Himself cleanses our souls, but the manifest forgiveness by which we have mercy on one another and so give expression to the fact that He is living, by His mercy, in our own hearts.” – Thomas Merton
“I dedicate this to all those who did not live to tell it. And may they please forgive me for not having seen it all nor remembered it all, for not having divined all of it – from The Gulag Archipelago” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“Forgiveness is not about forgetting, Mack. It is about letting go of another person’s throat.” – Wm. Paul Young
“It seems as though mankind has forgotten the laws of its divine Saviour, Who preached love and forgiveness of injuries—and that men attribute the greatest merit to skill in killing one another.” – Leo Tolstoy
“Shouldn’t they forgive that in each other? Shouldn’t they move beyond the little weaknesses they’re hiding at the bottom of drawers?” – Milan Kundera
“I think too much value is given to forgiveness when it’s easier to forgive but far harder to forget. That understanding and acceptance is far more important than forgiving someone,” – Jennifer L. Armentrout
“People who love us do black magic on us, but they don’t know what they do. That is why we must forgive them; they don’t know what they do.” – Miguel Ruiz
“Jung has so eloquently written of this biblical admonition: Acceptance of oneself is the essence of the moral problem and the acid test of one’s whole outlook on life. That I feed the beggar, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of Christ—all these are undoubtedly great virtues. What I do unto the least of my brethren, that I do unto Christ. But what if I should discover that the least amongst them all, the poorest of all beggars, the most impudent of all offenders, yea the very fiend himself—that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness, that I myself am the enemy who must be loved—what then?48” – James Hollis
“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond who you were.” – Jonathan Anthony Burkett.
“If her past were your past, her pain your pain, her level of consciousness your level of consciousness, you would think and act exactly as she does. With this realization comes forgiveness, compassion, peace.” – Eckhart Tolle.
“Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a different past.” – Viola Davis.
“Was it you that killed me, or did I kill you?” Abel answered. “I don’t remember anymore; here we are, together, like before.” “Now I know that you have truly forgiven me,” Cain said, “because forgetting is forgiving. I, too, will try to forget.” – Jorge Luis Borges Legend.
“Existential envy which is directed against the other person’s very nature, is the strongest source of ressentiment. It is as if it whispers continually: “I can forgive everything, but not that you are— that you are what you are—that I am not what you are—indeed that I am not you.” This form of envy strips the opponent of his very existence, for this existence as such is felt to be a “pressure,” a “reproach,” and an unbearable humiliation. In the lives of great men there are always critical periods of instability, in which they alternately envy and try to love those whose merits they cannot but esteem. Only gradually, one of these attitudes will predominate. Here lies the meaning of Goethe’s reflection that “against another’s great merits, there is no remedy but love.” – Max Scheler.
“The difference between justice and forgiveness: To be just is to condemn the fault and, because of the fault, to condemn the doer as well. To forgive is to condemn the fault but to spare the doer. That’s what the forgiving God does.” – Miroslav Volf.
“But privately when things got very bad I often looked into books to see whether I could find some helpful words, and one day I read, “The forgiveness of sins is perpetual and righteousness first is not required.” This impressed me so deeply that I went around saying it to myself. But then I forgot which book it was.” – Saul Bellow.
“How easily a life can become a litany of guilt and regret, a song that keeps echoing with the same chorus, with the inability to forgive ourselves. How easily the life we didn’t live becomes the only life we prize. How easily we are seduced by the fantasy that we are in control, that we were ever in control, that the things we could or should have doneor said have the power, if only we had done or said them, to cure pain, to erase suffering, to vanish loss. How easily we can cling to – worship – the choice we think we could or should have made.” – Edith Eva Eger.
“I forgive what you have done to me. I love my murderer – but yours! How can I?” – Emily Brontë.
“We begin to forgive by choosing to forgive . . . by deciding, not by feeling. Our feelings don’t lead us to forgive. Most times, our feelings lead us the other way. That’s why a person has to decide to forgive first. Our feelings always follow along behind our decisions.” – Andy Andrews.
“A place like this wears down everything, and tolerance is no exception. In here, coexistence passes for forgiveness. You do not learn to like something you abhor; you come to live with it…You live and let live, and eventually that becomes enough.” – Jodi Picoult.
“The bowed head, the buried face. She is silent, she will never speak, never forgive, never reach a hand, never leave this frozen present tense. All waits, suspended. Suspended the autumn trees, the autumn sky, anonymous people. A blackbird, poor fool, sings out of season from the willows by the lake. A flight of pigeons over the houses; fragments of freedom, hazard, an anagram made flesh. And somewhere the stinging smell of burning leaves.” – John Fowles.
“Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.” – Dag Hammarskjöld.
“Could it be as simple as that? Could love be not grand gestures or empty vows, not promises meant to be broken, but instead a paper trail of forgiveness? A line of crumbs made of memories, to lead you back to the person who was waiting?” – Jodi Picoult.
“Jordan. Jordan tattoos the words FORGIVE ME in thick black letters down the inside of his arm so that when he looks at his wrist he will remember not to hate himself so much.” – Buddy Wakefield.
“I could not ask for forgiveness for something I had not done. As scapegoat, I could only bear the fault.” – Daphne du Maurier.
“The truest grace is not to forgive, but to have never found fault.” – Richard Paul Evans.
“What Richard is talking about is instead admitting to the existence of negative thoughts, understanding where they came from and why they arrived, and then – with great forgiveness and fortitude – dismissing them.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
“And in that moment, he was finally able to accept it all. In the deepest recesses of his soul, Tsukuru Tazaki understood. One heart is not connected to another through harmony alone. They are, instead, linked deeply through their wounds. Pain linked to pain, fragility to fragility. There is no silence without a cry of grief, no forgiveness without bloodshed, no acceptance without a passage through acute loss. That is what lies at the root of true harmony.”” – Haruki Murakami
“Melina Marchetta \”If you don’t build a bridge and get over it, I’ll never forgive either of you.”” – Melina Marchetta
“Taylor Jenkins Reid “Love is forgiveness and patience and faith and every once in a while, it’s a gut punch.” – Taylor Jenkins Reid
“Madeleine Thien “I know that throughout my life I have struggled to forgive my father. Now, as I get older, I wish most of all that he had been able to find a way to forgive himself.”” – Madeleine Thien
“Jodi Picoult “It isn’t a matter of comprehension. It’s forgiveness.”” – Jodi Picoult
“I believe in Free Will, the Force Almighty by which we conduct ourselves as if we were the sons and daughters of a just and wise God, even if there is no such Supreme Being. And by free will, we can choose to do good on this earth, no matter that we all die, and do not know where we go when we die, or if a justice or explanation awaits us. I believe that we can, through our reason, know what good is, and in the communion of men and women, in which the forgiveness of wrongs will always be more significant than the avenging of them, and that in the beautiful natural world that surrounds us, we represent the best and the finest of beings, for we alone can see that natural beauty, appreciate it, learn from it, weep for it, and seek to conserve it and protect it. I believe finally that we are the only true moral force in the physical world, the makers of, ethics and moral ideas, and that we must be as good as the gods we created in the past to guide us. I believe that through our finest efforts, we will succeed finally in creating heaven on earth, and we do it every time that we love, every time that we embrace, every time that we commit to create rather than destroy, every time that we place life over death, and the natural over what is unnatural, insofar as we are able to define it. And I suppose I do believe in the final analysis that a peace of mind can be obtained in the face of the worst horrors and the worst losses. It can be obtained by faith in change and in will and in accident and by faith in ourselves, that we will do the right thing, more often than not, in the face of adversity. For ours is the power and the glory, because we are capable of visions and ideas which are ultimately stronger and more enduring than we are. That is my credo. That is my belief, for what it’s worth, and it sustains me. And if I were to die right now, I wouldn’t be afraid. Because I can’t believe that horror or chaos awaits us. If any revelation awaits us at all, it must be as good as our ideals and our philosophy. For surely nature must embrace the visible and the invisible, and it couldn’t fall short of us. The thing that makes the flowers open and the snowflakes fall must contain a wisdom and a final secret as intricate and beautiful as the blooming camellia or the clouds gathering above, so white and so pure in the blackness. If that isn’t so, then we are in the grip of a staggering irony. And all the spooks of hell might as well dance. There could be a devil. People who burn other people to death are fine. There could be anything. But the world is simply to beautiful for that. At least it seems that way to me.” – Anne Rice
“Mercy is in the province of the person alone. There is mass hatred and mass grief. Mass vengeance and even mass suicide. But there is no mass forgiveness. There is only you.” – Cormac McCarthy
“The community of the saints is not an “ideal” community consisting of perfect and sinless men and women, where there is no need of further repentance. No, it is a community which proves that it is worthy of the gospel of forgiveness by constantly and sincerely proclaiming God’s forgiveness…Sanctification means driving out the world from the Church as well as separating the Church from the world. But the purpose of such discipline is not to establish a community of the perfect, but a community consisting of men who really live under the forgiving mercy of God.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“The soul that acquires the virtue of forgiveness won’t find any more trouble. No matter what happens, he will know how to run his life …” – Chico Xavier
“Judgement is the forbidden objectivization of the other person which destroys single-minded love. I am not forbidden to have my own thoughts about the other person, to realize his shortcomings, but only to the extent that it offers to me an occasion for forgiveness and unconditional love, as Jesus proves to me.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“A very important but difficult piece of renewing relationships is accepting responsibility for our part in any conflict. If we have a relationship in need of repair, we must remember that the wrong is not usually all on one side, and we are more easily able to restore relations when we look at our contribution to a conflict.” – Desmond Tutu
“Shouldn’t they forgive that in each other? Shouldn’t they move beyond the little weaknesses they’re hiding at the bottom of drawers?” – Milan Kundera
“After such knowledge, what forgiveness?” – T.S. Eliot
“The evil of one murder is infinite, and my guilt is like my beauty – eternal. I cannot be forgiven, for there is no one to forgive me for all I’ve done.” – Anne Rice
“Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” – W. Somerset Maugham
“I did not really appreciate the infamies that have been committed in the name of religion, until I saw the iron arguments that Christians used… Heroism did not excite the respect of our fathers. The man who would not recant was not forgiven.” – Robert G. Ingersoll
“How do our lives reach these points [drained of the possibility of forgiveness and kindness]?” – Douglas Coupland

Relationship forgiveness quotes

“Anyway, if you need your heroes to be perfect, you won’t have very many. Even Superman had his Kryptonite. I’d rather have my heroes be more like me: trying to do the right thing, sometimes messing up. Making mistakes. Saying you’re sorry. And forgiving other people when they mess up, too.” – Madeleine George.
“I’ll forgive these rash words for now.” – Kresley Cole.
“Try to forgive by trying to understand how it would feel to be in the other’s shoes. If someone hurts you – ask them – “What hurts you so much that you would do this?” Listen to the answer and try to understand what is valid for them. They may have been fighting for your attention, but no one thinks of themselves as attackers, only defenders! So don’t judge their ways, only set them free by giving them a chance to speak. You may both learn a lot from your kindness and courage in asking for the truth. But even if nothing changes, release it, remember that you both have a right to be who you choose to be. When we make judgements we’re inevitably acting on limited knowledge, so ask if you seek to understand, or simply let them be!” – Jay Woodman.
“We both fucked up, Amara,” he told her, his eyes blazing. “And we’re both going to own up to it. And we’re both going to talk about this and forgive and move on. I’m not giving you a choice here. I didn’t work my ass off all these years for something trivial as lack of communication to break us.” – RuNyx
“Not ‘Don’ in that
I-m-sorry-and-now-you’ll-forgive-me-like-you-always-do-way. Not this time, Keenan.”

(Donya)” – melissa marr

“You told me once that you would not forgive me if I didn’t drop by whenever I found myself in the same city as you.” … “I would have forgiven you,” Magnus said with conviction. “I would have thanked you.” … “Call it even,” said Tessa. “You once walked in on me in an embarrassing situation with a gentleman in a mountain fortress, after all.” – Cassandra Clare.
“…a choice had to be made when your husband said something unkind. Specifically: be cruel, be strong, or sulk. ‘Be cruel’ by saying an unkind thing back. ‘Be strong’ by choosing not to mind. But to do this, you have to use up a piece of your love. You have to shave off enough of the love to forgive. After a while, the piece might grow back, but sometimes not. And if you shave off all the soft curves, you’ll be left with a sharp-edged love. ‘Sulk’ by sulking. Sulking is simply delaying the choice to be cruel or strong.” – Jaclyn Moriarty.
“A very important but difficult piece of renewing relationships is accepting responsibility for our part in any conflict. If we have a relationship in need of repair, we must remember that the wrong is not usually all on one side, and we are more easily able to restore relations when we look at our contribution to a conflict.” – Desmond Tutu
“You’ll meet people that you love who fuck up constantly. You’ll learn when to forgive human error and when to eradicate the unworthy from your spirit.” – Gabby Rivera
“Without patience or negotiation, there is bitterness: anger that has forgotten where it came from. There is a nagger who wants it done now and can’t be bothered to explain why. And there is a naggee who no longer has the heart to explain that his or her resistance is grounded in some sensible counter-arguments or, alternatively, in some touching and perhaps even forgivable flaws of character. The two parties just hope the problem – so boring to them both – will simply go away.” – Alain de Botton
“Shouldn’t they forgive that in each other? Shouldn’t they move beyond the little weaknesses they’re hiding at the bottom of drawers?” – Milan Kundera
“I want you so much. I want you forever. Forgive me… I love you so much.” – S.C. Stephens.
“if she will forgive me for having failed her- having failed out peave!” – Kailin Gow.
“ONE MORE CHNCE. Words that my mother heard, more than once. Words that women debate. Whether you CAN forgive and whether you SHOULD trust. I think of all the judgment from society, friends, and family, the overwhelming consensus seeming to be that you should not grant someone who betrayed you a second chance. That you should do everything you can to keep the knife out of your back, and to protect your heart and pride. Cowards give second chances. Fools give second chances. And I am no coward, no fool.” – Emily Giffin
“I imagine the dead waking, dazed, into a shadowless light in which they know themselves altogether for the first time. It is a light that is merciless until they can accept its mercy; by it they are at once condemned and redeemed. It is Hell until it is Heaven. Seeing themselves in that light, if they are willing, they see how far they have failed the only justice of loving one another; it punishes them by their own judgment. And yet, in suffering that light’s awful clarity, in seeing themselves in it, they see its forgiveness and its beauty, and are consoled. In it they are loved completely, even as they have been, and so are changed into what they could not have been but what, if they could have imagined it, they would have wished to be.” – Wendell Berry.
“If your child is killed by police, if the water in your community is poisoned, if a mockery is made of your grief, how do you feel? Do you want to be calm and quiet? Do you want to forgive in order to make everyone else comfortable? Or do you want to scream, to yell, to demand justice for the wrongs done? Anger gets the petitions out, it motivates marches, it gets people to the ballot. Anger is sometimes the only fuel left at the end of a long, horrible day, week, month, or generation.” – Mikki Kendall.
“Do you wonder then that this man’s behaviour used to puzzle me tremendously? He was an ordinary clergyman at that time as well as being Headmaster, and I would sit in the dim light of the school chapel and listen to him preaching about the Lamb of God and about Mercy and Forgiveness and all the rest of it and my young mind would become totally confused. I knew very well that only the night before this preacher had shown neither Forgiveness nor Mercy in flogging some small boy who had broken the rules. So what was it all about? I used to ask myself. Did they preach one thing and practise another, these men of God? And if someone had told me at the time that this flogging clergyman was one day to become the Archbishop of Canterbury, I would never have believed it. It was all this, I think, that made me begin to have doubts about religion and even about God. If this person, I kept telling myself, was one of God’s chosen salesmen on earth, then there must be something very wrong about the whole business.” – Roald Dahl.
“If it were not my purpose to combine barbarian things with things Hellenic, to traverse and civilize every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to disseminate and shower the blessings of the Hellenic justice and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me Diogenes, that I imitate Herakles, and emulate Perseus, and follow in the footsteps of Dionysos, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and desire that victorious Hellenes should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Kaukasos…” – Alexander the Great.
“True forgiveness is letting go of something and moving forward with your life. I was stuck in the past, drowning in misery.” – Sharon Carter.
“It’s impossible to control someone else’s capacity for forgiveness.” – Charlotte McConaghy.
“When will we wake up and see that the silent killer is killing our children? When will we open our eyes to see that we are the reason why the silent killer is powerful? We, the children’s guardians, teachers, school administrators, and higher authorities are the ones who are giving the silent killer its powers because we ignore what we see; we ignore what we hear, we procrastinate by forgiving the silent killer, by giving it too many chances, one after another. When will we realize that the silent killer isn’t only manipulating our children but it is controlling us too?” – Charlena E. Jackson.
“People are gonna disappoint you sometimes. We’re flawed creatures. Not one of us is perfect, not even you, and you’ve gotta let people mess up and then you’ve gotta forgive them. That’s just life.” – Jenny Han.
“forgiveness is selfish. We give it not because it’s earned, but because it’s what we need. To find peace. To be whole.” – Emma Chase.
“Forgiveness does not create a relationship. Unless people speak the truth about what they have done and change their mind and behavior, a relationship of trust is not possible. When you forgive someone you certainly release them from judgment, but without true change, no real relationship can be established.” – Wm. Paul Young.
“…Difficult relationships come into our lives for a reason. No one would choose them, certainly. But if we let them, they can teach us how to be flexible with others and more forgiving.” – Joan Bauer.
“And so I discovered that it is not on our own forgiveness any more than on our own goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When he tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” – Corrie Ten Boom.
“Don’t see it as forgiving him. See it as allowing yourself to be happy. What will you do with the misery you have chosen? Will you eat misery?” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
“If I could forgive, it meant I was a strong good person who could take responsibility for the path I had chosen for myself, and all the consequences that accompanied that choice. And it gave me the simple but powerful satisfaction of extending a kindness to another person in a tough spot.” – Piper Kerman.
“–I truly and deeply wanted to kill him. And I believe I could have done it, with nothing but my hands. But all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Peter had an arm around me. “Let it go, Kade,” he was whispering very gently, though his arm was nearly crushing me. “Open your fists,” he said, “and let go of the coals.” – David James Duncan.
“Would the last animal, eating garbage and living on the last scrap of land, his mate dead, would he still forgive you?” – Barry Lopez.
“Nothing releases like forgive. Nothing renews like forget.” – Ray A. Davis.
“Marriage is giving – and more important, it’s forgiving. And it is almost always the wife who must do these things. Then, as if that were not enough, she must be willing to forget what she forgave. Often that is the hardest part.” – Ann Landers.
“When we are children, when we are young, it is natural to love our friends, to be generous to them, to forgive their faults.. But as we grow old and have to earn our bread, friendship does not endure so easily. We must always be on our guard. Our elders no longer look after us, we are no longer content with those simple pleasures of children. Pride grows in us – we wish to become great or powerful or rich, or simply to guard ourself against misfortune.” – Mario Puzo.
“… forgiveness is a four letter word: Love.” – Elizabeth Marx.
“Many people hold onto a grudge because it offers the illusion of power and a perverse feeling of security. But in fact, we are held hostage by our anger. It is never too late to forgive. But you can forgive too soon. I am especially wary of what I call “saintly forgiveness.” Premature forgiveness is common among people who avoid conflict. They’re afraid of their own anger and the anger of others. But their forgiveness is false. Their anger goes underground. I define forgiving as letting someone back into your heart. This returns us to a loving state — and not merely within the relationship — we feel good about ourselves and the world. True forgiveness isn’t easy, but it transforms us significantly. To forgive is to love and to feel worthy of love. In that sense, it is always worthwhile.” – Robert Karen.

The power of forgiveness quotes

“We have a saying, where I come from: Power requires neither permission nor forgiveness.” – Ann Leckie.
“What can we forgive? Anything. If that’s what we choose.” – Sarah Crossan.
“When I get out of here, if I’m ever able to set this down, in any form, even in the form of one voice to another, it will be a reconstruction then too, yet another remove. It’s impossible to say a thing exactly the way it was, because what you say can never be exact, you always have to leave something out, there are too may parts, sides, crosscurrents, nuances; too many gestures, which could mean this or that, too many shapes which can never be fully described, too many flavors, in the air or on the tongue, half-colors, too many. But if you happen to be a man, sometime in the future, and you’ve made it this far, please remember: you will never be subject to the temptation or feeling you must forgive, a man, as a woman. It’s difficult to resist, believe me. But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold it or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest. Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it isn’t really about who can own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with it, even as far as death. Maybe it isn’t about who can sit and who has to kneel or stand or lie down, legs spread open. Maybe it’s about who can do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing.” – Margaret Atwood.
“Forgiveness, then, was possible even for the worst.” – Christopher Buehlman
“Forgiveness is truly the grace by which we enable another person to get up, and get up with dignity, to begin anew. To not forgive leads to bitterness and hatred. Like self-hatred and self-contempt, hatred of others gnaws away at our vitals. Whether hatred is projected out or stuffed in, it is always corrosive to the human spirit.” – Desmond Tutu
“…you are surrounded by beauty, the wonder of Creation, art, your music and culture, the sounds of laughter and love, of whispered hopes and celebrations, of new life and transformation, of reconciliation and forgiveness. These also are the results of your choices and every choice matters, even the hidden ones.” – William P. Young
“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond who you were.” – Jonathan Anthony Burkett.
“You have the power to take away someone’s happiness by refusing to forgive. That someone is you.” – Alan Cohen.
“The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness.” – Swami Sivananda Radha.
“If he couldn’t forgive you for what you’d done, it was clear to me he was never truly your destiny.” – Arthur Golden
“I don’t like this,” he said. I don’t like knowing you can’t forgive me, Claire. Please, I said I was sorry, what do you want me to do? Beg?I will. I’ll get on my knees right here if you want.” – Rachel Caine
“[Biblical counseling] Must insist that the image of God is central to developing a solid view of personality; that our sinfulness, not how we’ve been sinned against, is our biggest problem; that forgiveness, not wholeness, is our greatest need; that repentance, not insight, is the dynamic in all real change.” – Dan Allender
“When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.” – Bernard Meltzer.
“We begin to forgive by choosing to forgive . . . by deciding, not by feeling. Our feelings don’t lead us to forgive. Most times, our feelings lead us the other way. That’s why a person has to decide to forgive first. Our feelings always follow along behind our decisions.” – Andy Andrews.
“Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.” – Dag Hammarskjöld.
“Love as a concrete foundation for an authentically functional civilization requires the around-the-clock labors of forgiveness. Without it, Love fails, Friendship fails, Intelligence fails, Humanity: fails.” – Aberjhani.
“Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves.” – Kevin Kwan.
“Happy ending are only a pause. There are three kinds of big endings: Revenge. Tragedy. Forgiveness. Revenge and Tragedy often happen together. Forgiveness redeems the past. Forgiveness unblocks the future.” – Jeanette Winterson
“Forgiveness is not about forgetting, Mack. It is about letting go of another person’s throat.” – Wm. Paul Young
“Resentment is one burden that is incompatible with your success. Always be the first to forgive; and forgive yourself first always.” – Dan Zadra
“Free yourself from the poisonous and laborious burden of holding a grudge. When you hold a grudge, you want someone else’s sorrow to reflect your level of hurt, but the two rarely meet. Let go… Sometimes, forgiveness is simply a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on.” – Steve Maraboli
“Forgiveness is a powerful cure.” – Sue Fitzmaurice
“gentle and forgiving thoughts crystallize into habits of gentleness, which solidify into protective and preservative circumstances” – James Allen
“If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive.” – Bhagwad Geeta
“In all my travels, I’ve never seen a country’s population more determined to forgive, and to build and succeed than in Rwanda.” – Rick Warren
“When you forgive somebody, it’s not so much for them as it is for you. You need to be free from that. And you need to rise above that.” – Lacey Sturm
“While it may not be a simple act, offering forgiveness not only has the power to heal relationships, it strengthens the well-being of those who give this life-changing gift.” – Debbie Macomber
“Helped are those who forgive; their reward shall be forgetfulness of every evil done to them. It will be in their power, therefore, to envision the new Earth.” – Alice Walker

Family forgiveness quotes

“In family matters you can get over anything. That’s one thing you’ll learn as an adult. There’s a lot you have to learn which is a lot worse than that. You’d never think of forgiving a friend for some of the things your parents did to you. But with friends it’s different. Friends aren’t the roll of the dice.” – Pat Conroy.
“Parents always forgive you. Like sometimes, you see parents on the news, and their kid just got busted for murdering a 7-11 clerk, and they’re like, ‘But my Bubba’s a good boy. He’d never hurt a fly.’ So I’m sure your parents would forgive you for whatever you did.” – Alex Flinn
““Are you at all sorry?” Neil asked. “You took his family away from him.” If looks could kill, the one Aaron shot Neil should have flayed the skin from his bones. “That man was not his family.” “Technically, he was only a couple signatures away from being Andrew’s legal brother. I didn’t mean him, anyway. I meant Drake’s parents, Cass and Richard Spear,” Neil said. “They were going to keep Andrew. Drake was an inconvenience Andrew was willing to live with in exchange.” “An inconvenience,” Aaron echoed as he surged to his feet. “You fucking—” “And now Drake is dead,” Neil said. “Do you think Cass will ever forgive Andrew? It doesn’t matter what Drake did to him. She won’t be able to look at Andrew without knowing her son is dead because of him.” “I don’t care.” Aaron gave a savage jerk of his hand. “I don’t care if Andrew never speaks to me again. I don’t care about Cass or Drake or anyone. What Drake did—no. If I could bring him back from the dead and kill him again I would.” “Good,” Neil said quietly. “So now you understand why Andrew killed your mother.”” – Nora Sakavic
“Melina Marchetta \”If you don’t build a bridge and get over it, I’ll never forgive either of you.”” – Melina Marchetta
“Mitch Albom ‘You need to forgive your father.”” – Mitch Albom
“Khaled Hosseini “Forgive your father if you can. Forgive me if you wish. But most important, forgive yourself.”” – Khaled Hosseini
“Erin Nicholas “if that does end up happening, he’ll forgive me.”” – Erin Nicholas
“Madeleine Thien “I know that throughout my life I have struggled to forgive my father. Now, as I get older, I wish most of all that he had been able to find a way to forgive himself.”” – Madeleine Thien
“Dear daughter, I won’t try to call my feeling for Arty love. Call it focus. My focus on Art was an ailment, noncommunicable, and, even to me all these years later, incomprehensible. Now I despise myself. But even so I remember, in hot floods, the way he slept, still as death, with his face washed flat, stony as a carved tomb and exquisite. His weakness and his ravening bitter needs were terrible, and beautiful, and irresistible as an earthquake. He scalded or smothered anyone he needed, but his needing and the hurt that it caused me were the most life I ever had. Remember what a poor thing I have always been and forgive me.” – Katherine Dunn
“Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil. But, in this separation I associate you only with the good, and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you must have done me far more good than harm, let me feel now what sharp distress I may. O God bless you, God forgive you!” – Charles Dickens.
“I release my parents from the feeling that they have already failed me. I release my children from the need to bring pride to me; that they may write their own ways according to their hearts, that whisper all the time in their ears. I release my partner from the obligation to complete myself. I do not lack anything, I learn with all beings all the time. I thank my grandparents and forefathers who have gathered so that I can breathe life today. I release them from past failures and unfulfilled desires, aware that they have done their best to resolve their situations within the consciousness they had at that moment. I honor you, I love you and I recognize you as innocent. I am transparent before your eyes, so they know that I do not hide or owe anything other than being true to myself and to my very existence, that walking with the wisdom of the heart, I am aware that I fulfill my life project, free from invisible and visible family loyalties that might disturb my Peace and Happiness, which are my only responsibilities. I renounce the role of savior, of being one who unites or fulfills the expectations of others. Learning through, and only through, love, I bless my essence, my way of expressing, even though somebody may not understand me. I understand myself, because I alone have lived and experienced my history; because I know myself, I know who I am, what I feel, what I do and why I do it. I respect and approve myself. I honor the Divinity in me and in you. We are free.” – Anonymous
“Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. It’s a good life, enjoy it.” – Jim Henson
“And your mother would become a very slow forgiving machine.” – Kurt Vonnegut
“Everyone, even within a family, is different. We all have different needs, different issues we struggle with. Part of being a family is learning to face those differences, forgive, and accept so that you can move on to love.” – Susan May Warren
“If you’re not Gryffindor, we’ll disinherit you,\” said Ron, \”but no pressure.” … \”don’t get too friendly with him, though Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pure-blood.\”” – J.K. Rowling
“I hope my son will forgive me. He will never know. No one will ever know.” – Tatiana de Rosnay.
“One thing I do know my son-in-law didn’t hate you. That man loved you so much, sweetie,” her father commented.” – Sharon Carter.
“But they’re family, and you forgive them, even if they are human equivalent of hyenas. Because that’s what you do, Posey. Forgive.” – Kristan Higgins.
“…for no matter how lost and soiled and worn-out wandering sons may be, mothers can forgive and forget every thing as they fold them into their fostering arms. Happy the son whose faith in his mother remains unchanged, and who, through all his wanderings, has kept some filial token to repay her brave and tender love.” – Louisa May Alcott.

Healing inspirational forgiveness quotes

“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
“Acceptance means that you know, regardless of what happened, that there is something bigger than you at work. It also means you know that you are okay and that you will continue to be okay.” – Iyanla Vanzant
“I have breathed my way through so many people I felt wronged by; through so many situations I couldn’t change. Sometimes while doing this I have breathed in acceptance and breathed out love. Sometimes I’ve breathed in gratitude and out forgiveness. Sometimes I haven’t been able to muster anything beyond the breath itself, my mind forced blank with nothing but the desire to be free of sorrow and rage.” – Cheryl Strayed
“Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen
“Forgiveness is a powerful cure.” – Sue Fitzmaurice
“You might not get the apology you deserve. You might not get answers to explain the actions of others. You might not get truth that makes sense to you. You might not get people to understand what you went through because of them. You might not get communication. You might not get maturity. You might not get mercy or even common decency. You might not get respect or the chance to explain your side of the story. However, you do get to choose how people treat you. God loves you enough to bring people into your life who won’t hurt you, abuse you, betray you, lie and gossip about you, psycho analyse you, break your heart or make you an option or choice. He will bring people into your life that will love you, respect you, fight for you, show gratitude for your love and want to be a part of your life mission. The best part of this is you don’t have to convince them of your worth. They want to be there. They know your value. They know your struggles. They are in touch with their own faults and understand you struggle just like everyone else. They won’t hold you to a greater standard then they do themselves. They care about you and don’t want to see you cry, feel discouraged or give up on this life. When you know the power of who you are and what you have to accomplish you will scratch your head in disbelief that you allowed other people to dictate who you are based on little knowledge of what God knows about you and your life purpose. Letting go isn’t about accepting defeat or acknowledging you were wrong. Sometimes letting go is realizing that God has something better in store for you.” – Shannon L. Alder
“I forgive him and like water draining from the sand after a wave, the power he held over me disappears. A slow smile rises on my face.” – Ryan Winfield
“The very joyful thing about seeing ourselves and life from a place of gratitude instead of entitlement— is that this way of breathing allows us to be forgiving of difficult circumstances in life and of those people who delivered such difficult circumstances to us. Gratitude allows us second chances at joy; not with the same circumstances or those same people; but it alleviates the burden of bitterness that comes with not receiving what one believes he/she was entitled to have. We can instead look forward into life and see that there will be many good things and we will be grateful for them.” – C. JoyBell C.
“For you see, the face of destiny or luck or god that gives us war also gives us other kinds of pain: the loss of health and youth; the loss of loved ones or of love; the fear that we will end our days alone. Some people suffer in peace the way others suffer in war. The special gift of that suffering, I have learned, is how to be strong while we are weak, how to be brave when we are afraid, how to be wise in the midst of confusion, and how to let go of that which we can no longer hold. In this way, anger can teach us forgiveness, hate can teach us love, and war can teach us peace.” – Le Ly Hayslip
“Of all that we’re asked to give others in this life, the most difficult to offer may be forgiveness.” – William Kent Krueger.
“I can forgive and forget… it is so much less exhausting. You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad things” – M.L. Stedman.
“Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a different past.” – Viola Davis.
“Freedom is good… [i]t’s better than slavery. And forgiveness is good, better than revenge.” – Miriam Toews.
“You stubborn bastard. Take it from someone who knows firsthand, there’s a lot to be said for forgiveness. Grudges seldom hurt anyone except the one bearing them.” – Sherrilyn Kenyon.
“The 3 most powerful resources you have available to you : love, prayer and forgiveness.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility or forgiveness lost their depth and dimension.” – Václav Havel.
“The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness.” – Swami Sivananda Radha.
“There are certain things in life that you’ll be forgiven for, no matter how thoughtless or stupid or reckless, but if you do that same thing twice, you’re on your own.” – Jennifer E. Smith.
“…forgive your enemies…it messes with their heads.” – Charles Martin.
“Forgiving our enemies and transforming the situation of oppression into one of greater love.” – Jacques Philippe.
“No sin is unforgivable except the sin of unrepentance.” – Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica.
“One thing I do know my son-in-law didn’t hate you. That man loved you so much, sweetie,” her father commented.” – Sharon Carter.
“I may gain forgiveness, but that doesn’t let me escape the consequences.” – Stephenie Meyer.
“He could not forgive her, but he could not be unfeeling.” – Jane Austen.
“I not only forgive you for what has ruefully transpired this night, but for all other nights. Ergo, I assume in no uncertain terms that you will reciprocate in kindred fashion.” – John Fante.
“Kick him-he’ll forgive you.” – Idries Shah.
“Words matter, but what matters more than words is forgiveness and compassion.” – Shannon L. Alder.
“You can forever remember the wrongs done to you as long as you live,” she said. “But if you forget ’em and go on living, it’s almost as good as forgiving.” – James McBride.
“But as you are surely aware, forgiveness doesn’t mean you let the forgiven stomp all over you once again. Forgiveness means you’ve found a way forward that acknowledges harm done and hurt caused without letting either your anger or your pain rule your life or define your relationship with the one who did you wrong.” – Cheryl Strayed.
“Think for yourself and do what’s right for you, but let others do the same.” – Matthew Quick.
“All roads out of hell lead home.” – Shannon L. Alder.
“All the people in your life are truly doing the best they can with what they have. People can only love you to the capacity that they are able to love themselves. They can only forgive and embrace you to the capacity that they are able to forgive and embrace themselves. They can only give you what they have the capacity to give. You may think that you deserve more, and you may be correct. But that means nothing if a person simply doesn’t have the ability to give it to you.” – Lisa Nichols.
“Tough times don’t define you, they refine you. ‪” – Carlos A. Rodriguez.
“Don’t wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving; you will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made.” – Neil Anderson.

Heart-touching forgiveness quotes

“wish pure love and soft peace
upon the ones
who’ve been unkind to you
and keep moving forward
this will free you both”” – Rupi Kaur
“My dearest, I write this letter by candlelight as you lie sleeping….You are the most forgiving and peaceful man I know. God is with you, He must be, for you are the closest thing to an angel that I’ve ever seen….” – Nicholas Sparks
“…for no matter how lost and soiled and worn-out wandering sons may be, mothers can forgive and forget every thing as they fold them into their fostering arms. Happy the son whose faith in his mother remains unchanged, and who, through all his wanderings, has kept some filial token to repay her brave and tender love.” – Louisa May Alcott.
“\”Run,” he whispered. “Run.” “No, Rand,” I said, brushing the dirt from his face. “I’m tired of running.” “Forgive me, please.” He clutched my hand as his eyes beseeched me through tears of pain. “You’re forgiven.” He sighed once, then stopped breathing.” – Maria V. Snyder

Forgiveness quotes for her

“You, on the other hand, wish to know things. And no one can forgive a girl for that.”” – Jennifer Donnelly
“He was a lovely man in many ways. But he kept on insisting on forgiving me when there was nothing to forgive.”” – Angela Carter

Forgiveness quotes for him

“Am I to forgive?” she said, her voice shaking with anger.
“No,” he said sadly. “Pity him. Or give him new rules. Or put him down like a wild animal before he becomes a monster who destroys everything he encounters.”” – Melina Marchetta
“My dearest, I write this letter by candlelight as you lie sleeping….You are the most forgiving and peaceful man I know. God is with you, He must be, for you are the closest thing to an angel that I’ve ever seen….” – Nicholas Sparks