“The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.” ― Marianne Williamson
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” ― C.S. Lewis
“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” ― Steve Maraboli
“Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.” ― J.K. Rowling
“Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.” ― Robert Jordan
“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.” ― Corrie Ten Boom
“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” ― Nelson Mandela
“We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward.” ― Alison Croggon
“I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.” ― C.S. Lewis
“Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something; forgiveness, however, is for those who are substantial enough to move on.” ― Criss Jami
“To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.” ― G.K. Chesterton
“It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We need to learn from our errors and move on.” ― Steve Maraboli
“When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines upon you.” ― Jon Krakauer
“Can I be forgiven for all I've done to get here? I want to be. I can. I believe it.” ― Veronica Roth
“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.” ― Steve Maraboli
“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” ― Thomas Szasz
“Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.” ― Anne Lamott
“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.” ― Abraham Lincoln
“Forgiveness must be immediate, whether or not a person asks for it. Trust must be rebuilt over time. Trust requires a track record.” ― Rick Warren
“Listen. Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember.” ― Barbara Kingsolver
“To forgive is wisdom, to forget is genius. And easier. Because it's true. It's a new world every heart beat.” ― Joyce Cary
“Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy. But sometimes under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots keeping itself alive.” ― Paulo Coelho
“There isn't time, so brief is life, for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account. There is only time for loving, and but an instant, so to speak, for that.” ― Mark Twain
“Always forgive, but never forget, else you will be a prisoner of your own hatred, and doomed to repeat your mistakes forever.” ― Wil Zeus
“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.” ― Oprah Winfrey
“Love is forgiving, accepting, moving on, embracing, and all encompassing. And if you’re not doing that for yourself, you cannot do that with anyone else.” ― Steve Maraboli
“Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person's throat.” ― Wm. Paul Young
“What was the point of being able to forgive, when deep down, you both had to admit you'd never forget?” ― Jodi Picoult
“Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.” ― Siddhārtha Gautama
“Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal.” ― C.S. Lewis
“Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past, and is therefore the means for correcting our misperceptions.” ― Gerald G. Jampolsky
“There is no forgiveness. For women. A man may lose his honor and regain it again. But a woman cannot. She cannot.” ― Cormac McCarthy
“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you are.” ― Cherie Carter-Scott
“No matter how much you love someone—the capacity of that love is meaningless if it outweighs your capacity to forgive.” ― Colleen Hoover
“A broken friendship that is mended through forgiveness can be even stronger than it once was.” ― Stephen Richards
“If he can't handle you at your worst then he does not deserve you at your best. Real love means seeing beyond the words spoken out of pain, and instead seeing a person's soul.” ― Shannon Alder
“I'm sorry about yesterday," she said. He hung on to his straps and shrugged. "Yesterday happens.” ― Rainbow Rowell
“Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.” ― Ted Chiang
“When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh
“They lie, you know. It's not easier to ask for forgiveness. Not even a little.” ― Michelle Hodkin
“When blame and self-judgement are transformed, healed, and cease to be, we have reawakened without the myth, the mythos, of separation. We are One.” ― Wendy E. Slater
“Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day's chalking.” ― Frederick Buechner
“Forgiveness isn’t my best thing. Easier staying pissed. But I’m tired of being pissed all the time. Tired of feeling hurt by stuff that can never be fixed because it is an indelible part of the past.” ― Ellen Hopkins
“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.” ― Corrie Ten Boom
“One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him.” ― Socrates
“I know you loved both he and I, the way a mother can love two sons. And no one should be judged for loving more than they ought, only for loving not enough.” ― Catherynne M. Valente
“All children should be taught to unconditionally accept, approve, admire, appreciate, forgive, trust, and ultimately, love their own person.” ― Asa Don Brown
“I guess forgiveness, like happiness, isn’t a final destination. You don’t one day get there and get to stay.” ― Deb Caletti
“It’s not just other people we need to forgive. We also need to forgive ourselves. For all the things we didn’t do. All the things we should have done.” ― Mitch Albom
“The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.” ― William Hazlitt
“We are none of us perfect, and no one expects perfection. But when you have hurt people, you must allow them their anger. Otherwise it will only become another thing you have tried to take away.” ― Cassandra Clare
“Love people who hate you. Pray for people who have wronged you. It won’t just change their life…it’ll change yours.” ― Mandy Hale
“It is in the healing of self-blame and judgement, that the self is liberated from the constraints of binding emotions...And you come to remember your true authentic self." © 2015 W.E. Slater” ― Wendy E. Slater
“I want to undo this. To make it right. But I have no idea how. I don't seem to know how to open up to people without getting the door slammed in my face. So I do nothing.” ― Gayle Forman
“Forgiveness means it finally becomes unimportant that you hit back. You're done. It doesn't necessarily mean that you want to have lunch with the person. If you keep hitting back, you stay trapped in the nightmare...” ― Anne Lamott
“Dear Lord, please show me everything I need to understand about forgiveness and surrender” ― Elizabeth Gilbert
“When God takes out the trash, don't go digging back through it. Trust Him.” ― Amaka Imani Nkosazana
“Each person you meet is an aspect of yourself, clamoring for love.” ― Eric Micha'el Leventhal
“A mistake made with good in your heart is still a mistake, but it is one for which you must forgive yourself.” ― Linda Sue Park
“I understand why she did all those things, but that doesn't mean we aren't still broken.” ― Veronica Roth
“You can have compassion without forgiving. There are many ways to move on, and pretending to feel a certain way isn’t one of them.” ― Lori Gottlieb
“(on forgiveness) Didn't he and I stand together before an all seeing God convicted of the same murder? For I had murdered him with my heart and my tongue.” ― Corrie Ten Boom
“He said you were the only one who was bitter about S.'s suicide and the only one who really forgave him for it. The rest of us, he said, were outwardly unbitter and inwardly unforgiving.” ― J.D. Salinger
“Forgiveness is too easy. I can forget by indifference, but not forgive. I prefer revenge.” ― Karl Lagerfeld
“Mercy is most empowering, liberating, and transformative when it is directed at the undeserving. The people who haven’t earned it, who haven’t even sought it, are the most meaningful recipients of our compassion.” ― Bryan Stevenson
“Apologizing does not always mean you're wrong and the other person is right. It just means you value your relationship more than your ego.” ― Mark Matthews
“I'm not perfect. Remember that, and try to forgive me when I fail you.” ― Elizabeth Lowell
“People in general would rather die than forgive. It's that hard. If God said in plain language. "I'm giving you a choice, forgive or die," a lot of people would go ahead and order their coffin.” ― Sue Monk Kidd
“We don't forgive people because they deserve it. We forgive them because they need it--because we need it. I'm sure you felt much better after forgiving your son.” ― Bree Despain
“It's all very well to tell us to forgive our enemies; our enemies can never hurt us very much. But oh, what about forgiving our friends?” ― Willa Cather
“In the bible it says you have to forgive seventy times seven. I want you all to know, I'm keeping a chart.” ― Hillary Rodham Clinton
“Letting ourselves be forgiven is one of the most difficult healings we will undertake. And one of the most fruitful. (79)” ― Stephen Levine
“Forgiveness is not something you do for someone else; it's something you do for yourself. To forgive is not to condone, it is to refuse to continue feeling bad about an injury.” ― Jim Beaver
“Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.” ― lewis b. smedes
“Forgiveness is not a one off decision; it is a journey and a process that takes time, determination, and persistence. Forgiveness is not forgetting; it is simply denying your pain the right to control your life.” ― Corallie Buchanan
“Maybe He'll get what he deserves. Maybe Not. Maybe I'll never find it in my heart to forgive him. And maybe there's nothing wrong with that,either. All those maybes swimming around my head make me think that "maybe" could just be another word for hope.” ― Amber Smith
“There is a hard law. When an injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive. ” ― Alan Paton
“The dead don't desire revenge, but the happiness of the livng. To dirty your small hands would bring joy to no one. -Kenshin to Eiji” ― Watsuki Nobuhiro
“To punish the oppressors of humanity is clemency; to forgive them is cruelty.” ― Maximilien de Robespierre
“Never apologize for loving someone. Even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts.” ― Lynette Noni
“You are not limited to this body, to this mind, or to this reality—you are a limitless ocean of Consciousness, imbued with infinite potential. You are existence itself.” ― Joseph P. Kauffman
“Forgiveness is the one gift you don't give to others. Rather, it is the gift you give yourself, so you can finally be free.” ― Shannon Alder
“God knows I've got so many frailties myself, I ought to be able to understand and forgive them in others. But I don't.” ― Ava Gardner
“For I hope my Friends will pardon me, when I declare, I know none of them without a Fault; and I should be sorry if I could imagine, I had any Friend who could not see mine. Forgiveness, of this Kind, we give and demand in Turn.” ― Henry Fielding
“Accomplishments don’t erase shame, hatred, cruelty, silence, ignorance, discrimination, low self-esteem or immorality. It covers it up, with a creative version of pride and ego. Only restitution, forgiving yourself and others, compassion, repentance and living with dignity will ever erase the past.” ― Shannon L. Alder
“In this life, when you deny someone an apology, you will remember it at time you beg forgiveness.” ― Toba Beta
“... In love, everyone does things that hurt the other person, so there really is no "Right" and "Wrong". You just have to decide what you're willing to forgive” ― Yvonne Wood
“Procrastination is not Laziness", I tell him. "It is fear. Call it by its right name, and forgive yourself.” ― Julia Cameron
“Buried beneath disappointment and fear, anger and pride, I just might find it in my heart to forgive.” ― Emily Giffin
“…she eventually forgave him, because she understood him.” ― Whitney Otto
“He couldn't even tell whether he was angry or contrite, whether it was forgiveness he wanted or the power to forgive.” ― Richard Yates
“It takes quite a spine to turn the other cheek. It takes phenomenal fortitude to love your enemy. It takes firm resolve to pray for those who persecute you. (with reference to Matthew 5)” ― Rob Bell
“Still, we will let all this be a thing of the past, though it hurts us, and beat down by constraint the anger that rises inside us. Now I am making an end of my anger. It does not become me, unrelentingly to rage on” ― Homer
“Always seek justice, but love only mercy. To love justice and hate mercy is but a doorway to more injustice.” ― Criss Jami
“Life is so short. The only person you hurt when you stay angry or hold grudges is you. Forgive everyone, including yourself.” ― Tom Giaquinto
“We forgive so long as we love.”
“Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who 'forgives' you--out of love--takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always entails a sacrifice. The price you must pay for your own liberation through another's sacrifice is that you in turn must be willing to liberate in the same way, irrespective of the consequences to yourself.” ― Dag Hammarskjöld
“I know it. I know I shall make beastly mistakes, Father-" "The world does not forgive mistakes so quickly, my girl." He sounds bitter and sad. "If the world will not forgive me," I say softly, "I shall have to learn to forgive myself." He nods in understanding. "And how will you marry? Or do you intend to marry?" I think of Kartik, and tears threaten. "I shall meet someone one day, as Mother found you.” ― Libba Bray
“Discover your deep inner-self and from that place spread love in every direction.” ― Amit Ray
“There is a saying that to understand is to forgive, but that is an error, so Papa used to say. You must forgive in order to understand. Until you forgive, you defend yourself against the possibility of understanding. ... If you forgive, he would say, you may indeed still not understand, but you will be ready to understand, and that is the posture of grace.” ― Marilynne Robinson
“Peace is such hard work. Harder than war. It takes way more effort to forgive than to kill.” ― Rae Carson
“Forgiveness. The ability to forgive oneself. Stop here for a few breaths and think about this because it is the key to making art, and very possibly the key to finding any semblance of happiness in life. Every time I have set out to translate the book (or story, or hopelessly long essay) that exists in such brilliant detail on the big screen of my limbic system onto a piece of paper (which, let’s face it, was once a towering tree crowned with leaves and a home to birds). I grieve for my own lack of talent and intelligence. Every. Single. Time. Were I smarter, more gifted, I could pin down a closer facsimile of the wonders I see. I believe, more than anything, that this grief of constantly having to face down our own inadequacies is what keeps people from being writers. Forgiveness, therefore, is key. I can’t write the book I want to write, but I can and will write the book I am capable of writing. Again and again throughout the course of my life I will forgive myself.” ― Ann Patchett
“He sounded absolutely miserable. “Are you ever going to speak to me?” ― Maggie Stiefvater
“We learn our lessons; we get hurt; we want revenge. Then we realize that actually, happiness and forgiving people is the best revenge.” ― Madonna
“Forgiveness means saying that you're not going to let what happened to you define you any longer.” ― Heidi Priebe
“I wasted a lot of time being angry, time I can't get back. And now I see you, so angry about what happened to your marriage, and I just want to tell you, at some point it doesn't matter who was right and who was wrong. At some point, being angry is just another bad habit, like smoking, and you keep poisoning yourself without thinking about it.” ― Jonathan Tropper
“Now we come to forgiveness. Don't worry about forgiving me right now. There are more important things. For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe. Don't let them suffer too much. If they have to die, let it be fast. You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves.” ― Margaret Atwood
“I'm too old to recover, too narrow to forgive myself.” ― Lillian Hellman
“Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a brother? God is holy and sinless, He is a just judge of evil and the enemy of all disobedience. But a brother is sinful as we are. He knows from his own experience the dark night of secret sin. Why should we not find it easier to go to a brother than to the holy God? But if we do, we must ask ourselves whether we have not often been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God, whether we have not rather been confessing our sins to ourselves and also granting ourselves absolution...Who can give us the certainty that, in the confession and the forgiveness of our sins, we are not dealing with ourselves but with the living God? God gives us this certainty through our brother. Our brother breaks the circle of self-deception. A man who confesses his sins in the presence of a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself; he experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“A man does not have to feel less than human to realize his sin; oppositely, he has to realize that he gets no special vindication for his sin.” ― Criss Jami
“... I have dreams of you too, Mariam jo. I miss you. I miss the sound of your voice, your laughter. I miss reading to you, and all those times we fished together. Do you remember all those times we fished together? You were a good daughter, Mariam jo, and I cannot ever think of you without feeling shame and regret. Regret… When it comes to you, Mariam jo, I have oceans of it. I regret that I did not see you the day you came to Herat. I regret that I did not open the door and take you in. I regret that I did not make you a daughter to me, that I let you live in that place for all those years. And for what? Fear of losing face? Of staining my so-called good name? How little those things matter to me now after all the loss, all the terrible things I have seen in this cursed war. But now, of course, it is too late. Perhaps that is just punishment for those who have been heartless, to understand only when nothing can be undone. Now all I can do is say that you were a good daughter, Mariam jo, and that I never deserved you. Now all I can do is ask for your forgiveness. So forgive me, Mariam jo. Forgive me, forgive me. Forgive me...” ― Khaled Hosseini
“Part of the function of memory is to forget; the omni-retentive mind will break down and produce at best an idiot savant who can recite a telephone book, and at worst a person to whom every grudge and slight is as yesterday's.” ― Christopher Hitchens
“Amo amas amat amamus amatis amant amavi amavisti amavit amavimus amavistis amaverunt amavero amaveris amaverit… Everything was love. Everything will be love. Everything has been love. Everything would be love. Everything would have been love. Ah, that was it, the truth at last. Everything would have been love. The huge eye, which had become an immense sphere, was gently breathing, only it was not an eye nor a sphere but a great wonderful animal covered in little waving legs like hairs, waving oh so gently as if they were under water. All shall be well and all shall be well said the ocean. So the place of reconciliation existed after all, not like a little knot hole in a cupboard but flowing everywhere and being everything. I had only to will it and it would be, for spirit is omnipotent only I never knew it, like being able to walk on the air. 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. The past was folded up and in the twinkling of an eye everything had been changed and made beautiful and good.” ― Iris Murdoch
“Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands (see Revelation 7:9), I shall see the prostitute from the Kit-Kat Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, who tearfully told me that she could find no other employment to support her two-year-old son. I shall see the woman who had an abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse but did the best she could faced with grueling alternatives; the businessman besieged with debt who sold his integrity in a series of desperate transactions; the insecure clergyman addicted to being liked, who never challenged his people from the pulpit and longed for unconditional love; the sexually abused teen molested by his father and now selling his body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his last 'trick', whispers the name of the unknown God he learned about in Sunday school. 'But how?' we ask. Then the voice says, 'They have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.' There they are. There *we* are - the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life's tribulations, but through it all clung to faith. My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace.” ― Brennan Manning
“I loved and adored you, but I drained you like a thirsty man at a spring. I loved what you could give me - your admiration, your acceptance, your love, your forgiveness. I forgot to love you for yourself.” ― Jennifer Ashley
“You are forgiven for your happiness and your successes only if you generously consent to share them.” ― Albert Camus
“Simply touching a difficult memory with some slight willingness to heal begins to soften the holding and tension around it. (74)” ― Stephen Levine
“Life is an adventure in forgiveness” ― Norman Cousins
“There is hope in forgiveness” ― John Piper
“Men who do not forgive women their little faults will never enjoy their great virtues.” ― Khalil Gibran
“It's a good sign but rare instance when, in a relationship, you find that the more you learn about the other person, the more you continue to desire them. A sturdy bond delights in that degree of youthful intrigue. Love loves its youth.” ― Criss Jami
“Forgiveness is created by the restitution of the abuser; of the wrongdoer. It is not something to be squeeeeeezed out of the victim in a further act of conscience-corrupting abuse.” ― Stefan Molyneux
“There is only one perpetrator of evil on the planet: human unconsciousness. That realization is true forgiveness. With forgiveness, your victim identity dissolves, and your true power emerges--the power of Presence. Instead of blaming the darkness, you bring in the light.” ― Eckhart Tolle
“But why is it so hard to forgive?' Mrs. Conners asked. 'Pride,' Dad said. 'This person has already wronged you in some way, and now you are the one who has to swallow your pride, give something up, in order to forgive him.” ― Bree Despain
“I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance.” ― Adlai E. Stevenson II
“At times anger will trigger harsh words. After a cooling period wisdom sets in; finally, the ability to speak from the heart with love and compassion.” ― Ana Monnar
“But perhaps this is all to the good. Perhaps it’s best to live with the possibility that around any corner, at any time, may come the person who reminds you of your own capacity to surprise yourself, to put at risk everything that’s dear to you. Who reminds you of the distances we have to bridge to begin to know anything about one another. Who reminds you that what seems to be—even about yourself—may not be. That like him, you need to be forgiven.” ― Sue Miller
“The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good.” ― Catherine Ponder
“Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.” ― Jonathan Lockwood Huie
“To err is human, to forgive is divine... but I’m only a cardinal and cardinals are human, so rather than forgiving you I’m going to err towards beating you with this stick.” ― Mark Lawrence
“Undeserved forgiveness. Friendship defined.” ― Robin Hobb
“Forgiveness takes intelligence, discipline, imagination, and persistence, as well as a special psychological strength, something athletes call mental toughness and warriors call courage.” ― Edward M. Hallowell
“It is difficult to be generous-minded to those we have greatly harmed.” ― P.D. James
“Sometimes we carry unhappy feelings about past hurts too long. We spend too much energy dwelling on things that have passed and cannot be changed. We struggle to close the door and let go of the hurt. If, after time, we can forgive whatever may have caused the hurt, we will tap 'into a life-giving source of comfort' through the Atonement, and the 'sweet peace' of forgiveness will be ours ("My Journey to Forgiving," Ensign, Feb. 1997. 43). Some injuries are so hurtful and deep that healing comes only with help from a higher power and hope for perfect justice and restitution in the next life. . . . You can tap into that higher power and receive precious comfort and sweet peace.” ― James E. Faust
“What you cant forget... God cant remember!” ― John MacArthur
“Forgivenesss: It's a miracle drug. It's God's miracle drug.” ― Gayle Forman
“Forgiveness is the economy of the heart.…forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.” ― Hannah More
“No matter how kind you are, always expect a few imbeciles.” ― Criss Jami
“You are helpful, and you are loved, and you are forgiven, and you are not alone.” ― John Green
“A utopian system, when established by men, is likely to be synonymous with a dystopian depression. The only way for perfect peace by man is absolute control of all wrongs. Bully-cultures find this: with each and every mistake, another village idiot is shamed into nothingness and mindlessly shut down by the herd. This is a superficial peace made by force and by fear, one in which there is no freedom to breathe; and the reason it is impossible for man to maintain freedom and peace for everyone at the same time. Christ, on the other hand, transforms, instead of controls, by instilling his certain inner peace. This is the place where one realizes that only his holiness is and feels like true freedom, rather than like imprisonment, and, too, why Hell, I imagine, a magnified version of man's never-ending conflict between freedom and peace, would be the flesh's ultimate utopia - yet its ultimate regret.” ― Criss Jami
“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
“Nothing releases like forgive. Nothing renews like forget.” ― Ray A. Davis
“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
“It is only when the mind is free from the old that it meets everything anew, and in that there is joy.” ― J. Krishnamurti
“A Great Rabbi stands, teaching in the marketplace. It happens that a husband finds proof that morning of his wife's adultery, and a mob carries her to the marketplace to stone her to death. There is a familiar version of this story, but a friend of mine - a Speaker for the Dead - has told me of two other Rabbis that faced the same situation. Those are the ones I'm going to tell you. The Rabbi walks forward and stands beside the woman. Out of respect for him the mob forbears and waits with the stones heavy in their hands. 'Is there any man here,' he says to them, 'who has not desired another man's wife, another woman's husband?' They murmur and say, 'We all know the desire, but Rabbi none of us has acted on it.' The Rabbi says, 'Then kneel down and give thanks that God has made you strong.' He takes the woman by the hand and leads her out of the market. Just before he lets her go, he whispers to her, 'Tell the Lord Magistrate who saved his mistress, then he'll know I am his loyal servant.' So the woman lives because the community is too corrupt to protect itself from disorder. Another Rabbi. Another city. He goes to her and stops the mob as in the other story and says, 'Which of you is without sin? Let him cast the first stone.' The people are abashed, and they forget their unity of purpose in the memory of their own individual sins. ‘Someday,’ they think, ‘I may be like this woman. And I’ll hope for forgiveness and another chance. I should treat her as I wish to be treated.’ As they opened their hands and let their stones fall to the ground, the Rabbi picks up one of the fallen stones, lifts it high over the woman’s head and throws it straight down with all his might it crushes her skull and dashes her brain among the cobblestones. ‘Nor am I without sins,’ he says to the people, ‘but if we allow only perfect people to enforce the law, the law will soon be dead – and our city with it.’ So the woman died because her community was too rigid to endure her deviance. The famous version of this story is noteworthy because it is so startlingly rare in our experience. Most communities lurch between decay and rigor mortis and when they veer too far they die. Only one Rabbi dared to expect of us such a perfect balance that we could preserve the law and still forgive the deviation. So of course, we killed him. -San Angelo Letters to an Incipient Heretic” ― Orson Scott Card
“A strong gives forgiveness but weak gives permission.” ― Santosh Kalwar
“Forgiveness is the final form of love.” ― Reinhold Niebuhr
“[D]on’t cling to your self-righteous suffering, let it go. . . . Nothing is too good to be true, let yourself be forgiven. To the degree you insist that you must suffer, you insist on the suffering of others as well. (90)” ― Stephen Levine
“I find something repulsive about the idea of vicarious redemption. I would not throw my numberless sins onto a scapegoat and expect them to pass from me; we rightly sneer at the barbaric societies that practice this unpleasantness in its literal form. There's no moral value in the vicarious gesture anyway. As Thomas Paine pointed out, you may if you wish take on a another man's debt, or even to take his place in prison. That would be self-sacrificing. But you may not assume his actual crimes as if they were your own; for one thing you did not commit them and might have died rather than do so; for another this impossible action would rob him of individual responsibility. So the whole apparatus of absolution and forgiveness strikes me as positively immoral, while the concept of revealed truth degrades the concept of free intelligence by purportedly relieving us of the hard task of working out the ethical principles for ourselves.” ― Christopher Hitchens
“I only suggest to you: Will you dwell on killing this man? You wish for revenge? If you do, he has already killed you by slow poison. So, let it go. Why waste your time? His life will see to his death.” ― Lloyd Alexander
“That's one of the things we learn as we grow older -- how to forgive. It comes easier at forty than it did at twenty.” ― L.M. Montgomery
“...God's grace and forgiveness, while free to the recipient, are always costly for the giver.... From the earliest parts of the Bible, it was understood that God could not forgive without sacrifice. No one who is seriously wronged can "just forgive" the perpetrator.... But when you forgive, that means you absorb the loss and the debt. You bear it yourself. All forgiveness, then, is costly.” ― Timothy Keller
“Of all things we mortals are called upon to do, the most difficult is forgiveness; in order to truly do it, you will probably have to behave as if you already have forgiven for quite a while before you have actually done so.” ― Marion Zimmer Bradley
“Sincere forgiveness isn't colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don't worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time.” ― Sara Paddison
“How does one know if she has forgiven? You tend to feel sorrow over the circumstance instead of rage, you tend to feel sorry for the person rather than angry with him. You tend to have nothing left to say about it all.” ― Clarissa Pinkola Estés
“Forgiveness is healing—everything is energy—thoughts create—we are all connected—what you resist persists—true love never dies—the soul’s immortality is the only true immortality—” ― alyson noel
“To be convinced in our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God by grace alone is the hardest thing.” ― Martin Luther
“You go on by doing the best you can. You go on by being generous. You go on by being true. You go on by offering comfort to others who can't go on. You go on by allowing the unbearable days to pass and allowing the pleasure in other days. You go on by finding a channel for your love and another for your rage.” ― Cheryl Strayed
“They say let he who is without sin cast the first stone. And to be without sin requires absolute forgiveness. But when your memories are freshly opened wounds, forgiveness is the most unnatural of human emotions.” ― Emily Thorne
“We all love best not those who offend us least, nor those who have done most for us, but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them.” ― Samuel Butler
“Since I’ve been home I’ve been trying hard to mend my relationship with my mother. Asking her to do things for me instead of brushing aside any offer of help, as I did for years out of anger. Letting her handle all the money I won. Returning her hugs instead of tolerating them. My time in the arena made me realize how I needed to stop punishing her for something she couldn’t help, specifically the crushing depression she fell into after my father’s death. Because sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them.” ― Suzanne Collins
“You will never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you.” ― Max Lucado
“There are some who say that you should forgive everyone, even the people who have disappointed you immeasurably. There are others who say you should not forgive anyone, and should stomp off in a huff no matter how many times they apologize. Of these two philosophies, the second one is of course much more fun, but it can also grow exhausting to stomp off in a huff every time someone has disappointed you, as everyone disappoints everyone eventually, and one can’t stomp off in a huff every minute of the day.” ― Lemony Snicket
“I define myself by helping others. This is what I do. Those people who want me to abandon my husband are asking me to put myself first and to judge him. The poor man has been judged unfairly by others. Why would I abandon him in his greatest need?” ― Deirdre-Elizabeth Parker
“Forgiving yourself, believing in yourself and choosing to love yourself are the best gifts one could receive.” ― Brittany Burgunder
“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
“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 didn’t answer. We were not buddies. We could not chat about the proximity of our offices, or football, or forgiveness.” ― Kimberly Novosel
“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
“Murderers don't get forgiven just because we promise to be good from now on. We have to earn our way back. One hundred is the price. One hundred lives for each we took. That seems fair. That's how we get whole again and that's our work, from now until as long as it takes.” ― Bill Willingham
“We're a team. It's part of our job to help each other out, and to forgive each other quickly. Otherwise, we'd never get anything done.” ― Jeramey Kraatz
“...he has so much he wants to tell the boy, but most important, maybe, is this: life makes monsters of everyone, but it's always possible to come back. Pain and death are real, but so are love, and family, and forgiveness.” ― Shaun Hamill
“Forgiveness, which is the place that every story turns, the chance we give each other.” ― Beth Kephart
“Learn to love someone when they least deserve it, because that is when they need your love most.” ― Rodolfo Costa
“Jane, I never meant to wound you thus...Will you ever forgive me?" Reader, I forgave him at the moment and on the spot.” ― Charlotte Bronte
“You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.” ― Lewis B. Smedes
“Did she say anything before she died?" he asked. "Yes," the surgeon said. "She said, 'Forgive him'" "Forgive him?" my father asked. "I think she was referring to the drunk driver who killed her." Wow. My grandmother's last act on earth was a call for forgiveness, love and tolerance. She wanted us to forgive Gerald, the dumb-ass Spokane Indian alcoholic who ran her over and killed her. I think My Dad wanted to go find Gerald and beat him to death. I think my mother would have helped him. I think I would have helped him, too. But my grandmother wanted us to forgive her murderer. Even dead, she was a better person than us.” ― Sherman Alexie
“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” ― Coretta Scott King
“The past doesn't exist. There is nothing to be sorry for. Today is when we start to live. Look... look at the sea. The sea has no past. It is just there. It will never ask us to explain. The stars, the moon are there to light our way, to shine for us. What do they care what might have happened in the past? They are accompanying us, and are happy with that; can you see them shine? The stars are twinkling in the sky; would they do that if the past mattered? Wouldn't there be a huge storm if God wanted to punish us? We are alone, you and I, with no past, no memories, no guilt, nothing that can stand in the way of... our love.” ― Ildefonso Falcones
“Of all that we're asked to give others in this life, the most difficult to offer may be forgiveness.” ― William Kent Krueger
“In the shadow of my hurt, forgiveness feel like a decision to reward my enemy. But in the shadow of the cross, forgiveness is merely a gift from one undeserving soul to another.” ― Andy Stanley
“A while ago?” Anaxantis asked. “Yes, he raped me a while ago. Exactly nine months and two days ago. What's that? Nine months or nine minutes. It's the same. And it is in the past, you say? Then why is it still happening, every day, every time I close my eyes? Every time I hear someone behind me, and I don't know who it is? How is it that I get an almost irresistible urge to kill anyone who happens to touch me unexpectedly? Tell me, Hemarchidas, how do I forgive, let alone forget, something that is still happening, that keeps happening over and over? How? How do I do that?” ― Andrew Ashling
“I look in the mirror through the eyes of the child that was me.” ― Judy Collins
“Cosette, do you hear? he has come to that! he asks my forgiveness! And do you know what he has done for me, Cosette? He has saved my life. He has done more--he has given you to me. And after having saved me, and after having given you to me, Cosette, what has he done with himself? He has sacrificed himself. Behold the man. And he says to me the ingrate, to me the forgetful, to me the pitiless, to me the guilty one: Thanks! Cosette, my whole life passed at the feet of this man would be too little. That barricade, that sewer, that furnace, that cesspool,--all that he traversed for me, for thee, Cosette! He carried me away through all the deaths which he put aside before me, and accepted for himself. Every courage, every virtue, every heroism, every sanctity he possesses! Cosette, that man is an angel!” ― Victor Hugo
“Isn’t it funny how we make rational excuses for being out of alignment? We say, “Well, this ____ and that ____ happened, so it makes perfect sense for me to be feeling like this ____ and wanting to do this ____.” Yet, to this day, I have never met a happy person who adheres to those excuses. In fact, each time I – or anyone else – decide to give in to “rational excuses” that justify feeling bad – it’s interesting that only further suffering is the result. There is never a good enough reason for us to be out of alignment with peace. Sure, we can go there and make choices that dim our lights… and that is fine; there certainly is purpose for it and the contrast gives us lessons to learn… yet if we’re aware of what we are doing and we’re ready to let go of the suffering – then why go there at all? It’s like beating a dead horse. Been there, done that… so why do we keep repeating it? Pain is going to happen; it’s inevitable in this human experience, yet it is often so brief. When we make those excuses, what happens is: we pick up that pain and begin to carry it with us into the next day… and the next day… into next week… maybe next month… and some of us even carry it for years or to our graves! Forgive, let it go! It is NOT worth it! It is NEVER worth it. There is never a good enough reason for us to pick up that pain and carry it with us. There is never a good enough reason for us to be out of alignment with peace. Unforgiveness hurts you; it hurts others, so why even go there? Why even promote pain? Why say painful things to yourself or others? Why think pain? Just let it go! Whenever I look back on painful things or feel pain today, I know it is my EGO that drives me to “go there.” The EGO likes to have the last word, it likes to feel superior, it likes to make others feel less than in hopes that it will make itself (me) feel better about my insecurities. Maybe if I hurt them enough, they will feel the pain I felt over what they did to me. It’s only fair! It’s never my fault; it’s always someone else’s. There is a twisted sense of pleasure I get from feeling this way, and my EGO eats it right up. YET! With awareness that continues to grow and expand each day, I choose to not feed my pain (EGO) or even go there. I still feel it at times, of course, so I simply acknowledge it and then release it. I HAVE power and choice over my speech and actions. I do not need to ever “go there” again. It’s my choice; it’s your choice. So it’s about damn time we start realizing this. We are not victims of our impulses or emotions; we have the power to control them, and so it’s time to stop acting like we don’t. It’s time to relinquish the excuses.” ― Alaric Hutchinson
“To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of this weary pilgrimage." ~Samuel Johnson” ― Edward M. Hallowell
“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
“God is the ultimate judge of what is truly in our souls. But we are requiered to forgive everyone.” ― Bree Despain
“Forgiveness is a personal process that doesn’t depend on us having direct contact with the people who have hurt us.” ― Sharon Salzberg
“The truest grace is not to forgive, but to have never found fault.” ― Richard Paul Evans
“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
“You never know how long you have-there might not BE a later-so don't let things go unsaid or unforgiven.” ― Dawn Metcalf
“You know some religious scholars believe that when faced with overwhelming temptation you should commit a small sin just to relieve the pressure a bit.” ― Bree Despain
“I can always forgive where I understand.” ― Jude Morgan
“The opponent strikes you on your cheek, and you strike him on the heart by your amazing spiritual audacity in turning the other cheek. You wrest the offensive from him by refusing to take his weapons, by keeping your own, and by striking him in his conscience from a higher level. He hits you physically, and you hit him spiritually.” ― E. Stanley Jones
“Forgiving is easier when we understand that forgiving someone else means that we are freeing ourselves of an unnecessary burden.” ― Donna Goddard
“Life is too short to be anything but happy. So kiss slowly. Love deeply. Forgive quickly. Take chances and never have regrets. Forget the past but remember what it taught you.” ― Abhishek Shukla
“It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel, so much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives. He cannot withstand the influence of habit and associations that surround him. Taught from earliest childhood, by all that he sees and hears that the rod is for the slave's back, he will not be apt to change his opinions in maturer years.” ― Solomon Northup
“But if you seek forgiveness, doesn't that automatically mean you cannot be a monster? By definition, doesn't that desperation make you human again?” ― Jodi Picoult
“All men have parties and are pals who never let each other down. A pal can say terrible things which are forgotten the next day. A pal never forgives, he just forgets, and a woman forgives but never forgets. That's how it is. That's why women aren't allowed to have parties. Being forgiven is very unpleasant.” ― Tove Jansson
“You know, Sage, Jesus didn't tell us to forgive everyone. He said turn the other cheek, but only if you the one who was hit. Even the Lord's Prayer says it loud and clear: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Not others. What Jesus challenges us to do is to let go of the wrong done to you personally, not the wrong done to someone else. But most Christians incorrectly assume that this means that being a good christian means forgiving all sins, and the sinners.” ― Jodi Picoult
“How can you forgive what I did?" "Because I know you. Because I've seen the best and the worst of you. Because of everything we've been through in the last hundred and thirty-nine years and what we've been through since you found me in the bar. God, because I want to move forward." "Yea, but --" "Because I love you, you idiot!” ― Paula Weston
“Time doesn't heal all wounds, only distance can lessen the sting of them.” ― Shannon Alder
“Compassion crowns the soul with its truest victory.” ― Aberjhani
“God forgive me everything!’ she said, feeling the impossibility of struggling...” ― Leo Tolstoy
“I knew that my heart and mind would always be tempted to feel anger--to find blame and hate. But I resolved that when the negative feelings came upon me, I wouldn't wait for them to grow or fester. I would always turn immediately to the Source of all true power: I would turn to God and let His love and forgiveness protect and save me.” ― Immaculee Ilibagiza
“Pity is not forgiveness, nor is gratitude absolution.” ― Pierce Brown
“Do not forget, do not ever forget, that you have promised me to use the money to make yourself an honest man.' Valjean, who did not recall having made any promise, was silent. The bishop had spoken the words slowly and deliberately. He concluded with a solemn emphasis: Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to what is evil but to what is good. I have bought your soul to save it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.” ― Victor Hugo
“You push the TRUTH off a cliff, but it will always fly. You can submerge the TRUTH under water, but it will not drown. You can place the TRUTH in the fire, but it will survive. You can bury the TRUTH beneath the ground, but it will arise. TRUTH always prevails!” ― Amaka Imani Nkosazana
“The Lord does not forgive excuses, He forgives sin.” ― Rick Joyner
“I had to clear up my messy life. By letting go of the debris and filth, I have come to a deeper, more soulful beauty and clarity like an oasis in the desert. From that place of clarity, a vision of what I could have, what I could do, who I could be has emerged if I allow my heart to become a place of compassion, acceptance and forgiveness.” ― Sharon E. Rainey
“لماذا عندما نتقدم في العمر و تموت حيويتنا نتصالح مع الماضي ، لماذا تصبح حياتنا الجديدة و القديمة كالمنديل المرقع” ― حنان الشيخ
“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
“The 3 most powerful resources you have available to you : love, prayer and forgiveness.” ― H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“They's a heap more to God's will than death, disapoint-ment, and like thet. Hit's God's will for us to be good and do good, love one another, be forgivin'..." He laughed. "I reckon I ain't very forgivin', son. I can forgive a fool, but I ain't inner-rested in coddlin' hypocrites. Well anyhow, folks who think God's will jest has to do with sufferin' and dyin', they done missed the whole point.” ― Olive Ann Burns
“I think the highest forgiveness is to accept that creation is thoroughly tangled, with every possible quality given outlet for expression. People need to accept once and for all that there is only one life and each of us is free to shape it through the choices we make. Seeking can’t get anyone out of the tangle because everything is tangled up…it’s much easier to keep up the fight between good and evil, holy and profane, us and them. But as awareness grows, these opposites begin to calm down in their clashes, and something else emerges- a world you feel at home in.” ― Deepak Chopra
“Some people are desperate because they don't know how to ask for His grace.” ― Bree Despain
“No forgiveness for lies.” ― Ryū Murakami
“She thought about how it was so simple with animals. They gave their hearts without question or fear. They had no expectations. They were so easy to love. If people could only be like that, no one would ever be hurt, she thought. No one would ever need to learn how to forgive.” ― Elizabeth George
“Disobedience happens not when we think too much grace but when we think too little of it” ― Tullian Tchividjian
“Like revenge, the fantasy of forgiveness often becomes a cruel torture, because it remains out of reach for most ordinary human beings. Folk wisdom recognizes that to forgive is divine. And even divine forgiveness, in most religious systems, is not unconditional. True forgiveness cannot be granted until the perpetrator has sought and earned it through confession, repentance, and restitution.” ― Judith Lewis Herman
“The point is that although love may die, what is said on its behalf cannot be consumed by the passage of time, and forgiveness is everything.” ― Charles Baxter
“Maybe the word forgive points in the wrong direction, since it's something you mostly give yourself, not anyone else: you put down the ugly weight of old suffering, untie yourself from the awful, and walk away from it.” ― Rebecca Solnit
“Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38” ― Anonymous
“What we love once, we love forever. Shall there be joy in heaven over those who repent, yet no forgiveness for them upon earth? --"Wanda” ― Ouida
“At the moment, it's simply a difference of opinon between the Doctor and you.. You both want the best. You've only tried to kill him a couple of times... I mean, don't worry about that. I've seen people do much worse to him and at the end of the day he'll take them out for pizza. He's very forgiving. The Doctor is brilliant,' [said Rory]” ― James Goss
“Home is where 'I know you', 'I accept you', 'I forgive you', and 'I love you' are most likely to be heard.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich
“We don't forgive people because they deserve it. We forgive them because they need itwe need it.” ― Bree Despain
“And then, when there is nothing else between us but love, we can begin to find a way to truly be together.” ― S.J. Watson
“It's not just other people we need to forgive, Mitch. " He finally whispered, "We also need to forgive ourselves.” ― Mitch Albom
“The common thread from all those stories was that talking helped, and listening, and time. One day I would find my own place. I couldn't run there, though, because it didn't exist yet; I had to build it myself, out of forgiveness, truth, and terrifying gestures of friendship.” ― I.W. Gregorio
“The question is: do you want suffering or do you want peace? It's that simple.” ― Donna Goddard
“Your dignity can be mocked, abused, compromised, toyed with, lowered and even badmouthed, but it can never be taken from you. You have the power today to reset your boundaries, restore your image, start fresh with renewed values and rebuild what has happened to you in the past.” ― Shannon L. Alder
“every time God forgives us, God is saying that God's own rules do not matter as much as the relationship that God wants to create with us.” ― Richard Rohr
“The terror of being judged sharpens the memory: it sends an inevitable glare over that long-unvisited past which has been habitually recalled only in general phrases. Even without memory, the life is bound into one by a zone of dependence in growth and decay; but intense memory forces a man to own his blameworthy past. With memory set smarting like a reopened wound, a man’s past is not simply a dead history, an outworn preparation of the present: it is not a repented error shaken loose from the life: it is a still quivering part of himself, bringing shudders and bitter flavors and the tinglings of a merited shame.” ― George Eliot
“If truth doesn't set you free, generosity of spirit will.” ― Katerina Stoykova Klemer
“What if everything you believe is wrong and you could still be loved and still be forgiven?” ― Cassandra Clare
“The trouble with forgiveness is that some people don't want to be forgiven.” ― Graham Joyce
“Embrace being perfectly imperfect. Learn from your mistakes and forgive yourself, you’ll be happier.” ― Roy Bennett
“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
“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
“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
“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
“As I helped him up, I felt him shake all over, so I asked him to forgive me, without knowing what for, but that was my lot, asking forgiveness, I even asked forgiveness of myself for being what I was, what it was my nature to be.” ― Bohumil Hrabal
“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
“Forgiveness is not about forgetting, Mack. It is about letting go of another person's throat.” ― Wm. Paul Young
“He believed in God even if he was doubtful of men's claims to know God's mind. But that a God unable to forgive was no God at all.” ― Cormac McCarthy
“I will confess to you that, you know, one of the statements that’s been attributed to me that I’m sort of proud of is somebody said, you know, “What do we do about Osama bin Laden?” And they asked me, “Can we forgive him?” And I said, “Forgiveness is up to God. I just hope we hurry up the meeting.” And that’s the way I feel about him, really. [8 February 2003 show of Meet The Press, NBC News]” ― Norman Schwarzkopf
“A Short Testament Whatever harm I may have done In all my life in all your wide creation If I cannot repair it I beg you to repair it, And then there are all the wounded The poor the deaf the lonely and the old Whom I have roughly dismissed As if I were not one of them. Where I have wronged them by it And cannot make amends I ask you To comfort them to overflowing, And where there are lives I may have withered around me, Or lives of strangers far or near That I've destroyed in blind complicity, And if I cannot find them Or have no way to serve them, Remember them. I beg you to remember them When winter is over And all your unimaginable promises Burst into song on death's bare branches.” ― Anne Porter
“Defeat anger, stop using it as a shield against truth, and you will find the compassion you need to forgive the people you love.” ― Glenn Beck
“Renunciation is not rejecting the family but accepting the whole world as family. Renunciation is not changing the name or dress. It is changing the attitude towards life. Renunciation is not removing the hairs form the head. It is eliminating the negative thoughts from the mind. Renunciation is not running away from responsibility, doership or fruits of action but it is focusing on the fruits and actions that will bring happiness to the whole world. Renunciation is the ultimate compassion and ultimate forgiveness.” ― Amit Ray
“There is nothing noble about suffering except the love and forgiveness with which we meet it. Many believe that if they are suffering they are closer to God, but I have met very few who could keep their heart open to their suffering enough for that to be true. (124)” ― Stephen Levine
“Great feuds often need very few words to resolve them. Disputes, even between nations, between peoples, can be set to rest with simple acts of contrition and corresponding forgiveness, can so often be shown to be based on nothing much other than pride and misunderstanding, and the forgetting of the humanity of the other—and land, of course.” ― Alexander McCall Smith
“It is a happy thing that time quells the longings of vengeance and hushes the promptings of rage and aversion. I had left this woman in bitterness and hate, and I came back to her now with no other emotion than a sort of ruth for her great sufferings, and strong yearning to forget and forgive all injuries - to be reconciled and clasp hands in amity.” ― Charlotte Brontë
“Most importantly, love each other deeply, because love cause many sins to be forgiven. - 1 Peter 4:8” ― Thomas Nelson
“If you show up to break me it won’t happen, I am water, water doesn’t break. If you need to prove superiority it won’t happen, I am air, air will always rise. If you try to draw blood it won’t happen, I am metal, your internal pain cannot penetrate my veins. If you try to suppress me it won’t happen, I am fire, my light cannot be extinguished.” ― debbie lynn - 360 degrees full circle
“My job isn't to go around judging people. Priests are meant to teach love and forgiveness. That to me is the essence of being a Christian. And trying to find that love and forgiveness in ourselves and others every day should be a challenge that we want to achieve.” ― Rosamund Lupton
“Sometimes the smallest things are so damn unforgivable. Maybe because they aren't small—they only seem that way to someone else. You never know what someone holds scared until it's too late.” ― James Anderson
“We can ast for comfort and hope and patience and courage . . . and we’ll git what we ast for. They ain’t no gar’ntee thet we ain’t go’n have no troubles and ain’t go’n die. But shore as frogs croak and cows bellow, God’ll forgive us if’n we ast Him to.” ― Olive Ann Burns
“If one by one we counted people out For the least sin, it wouldn't take us long To get so we had no one left to live with. For to be social is to be forgiving.” ― Robert Frost
“No one's said a word to them since they said we couldn't see you." Nathaniel's heart skipped a beat. The heat that gnawed at his chest was an ugly mix of gratitude and shame. He tried to speak but had to clear his throat before trying again. "But why? I've done nothing but lie to them. I willingly put them all in danger so I could play a little longer. They got hurt last night because of me. Why would they protect me now?" "You are a Fox," Andrew said, like it was that simple, and maybe it was. Nathaniel dropped his eyes and worked his jaw, fighting for a center he was quickly losing hold of.” ― Nora Sakavic
“Now here's a good one: you're lying on your deathbed. You have one hour to live. Who is it, exactly, you have needed all these years to forgive?” ― Louise Penny
“God judges men from the inside out; men judge men from the outside in. Perhaps to God, an extreme mental patient is doing quite well in going a month without murder, for he fought his chemical imbalance and succeeded; oppositely, perhaps the healthy, able and stable man who has never murdered in his life yet went a lifetime consciously, willingly never loving anyone but himself may then be subject to harsher judgment than the extreme mental patient. It might be so that God will stand for the weak and question the strong.” ― Criss Jami
“If you expect honesty, be honest. If you expect forgiveness, forgive. If you expect a whole person, you have to be a whole person.” ― Kristen Crockett
“Ulla could forgive betrayal, another abandonment, even her own death. But not this moment, when after all her sacrifice, she begged for mercy and Signy sought a prince's permission to grant it.” ― Leigh Bardugo
“A true friend doesn't have guts; they beat you up and later plead with you to beat them back.” ― Michael Bassey Johnson
“Making amends is not only saying the words but also being willing to listen to how your behavior caused another’s pain, and then the really hard part…changing behavior.” ― David W. Earle LPC- Love is Not Enough
“I've never heard anyone say "I wish I hadn't forgiven.” ― Katerina Stoykova Klemer
“I feel so sorry that many Christians live in bondage even though Jesus has signed their release form with His own blood.” ― Brother Yun
“أسأل : إذا كانت الظروف القاسية هي التي تجعل الناس قساة القلوب ، و اذا كان النجاح هو الذي يلينها و يجعلها غاية في التسامح ؟!” ― حنان الشيخ
“To progress is always to begin always to begin again” ― Martin Luther
