To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.
—Robert Muller
I can pardon everybody’s mistakes except my own.
—Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato) (234–149 BCE) Roman Statesman, Orator
When people screw up, give them a second chance.
—Richard Branson (b.1950) British Entrepreneur
The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
To be angry about trifles is mean and childish; to rage and be furious is brutish; and to maintain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and temper of devils; but to prevent and suppress rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly and divine.
—Isaac Watts (1674–1748) English Hymn writer
Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours. Be patient and understanding. Life is too short to be vengeful or malicious.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
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 (1921–2002) American Christian Author, Ethicist, Theologian, Academic
Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
What power has love but forgiveness?
In other words
by its intervention
what has been done
can be undone.
What good is it otherwise?
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) American Poet, Novelist, Cultural Historian
We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends.
—Cosimo de’ Medici
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
And when a man injures and oppresses you and deals unjustly with you, you should deal kindly with him and forgive him. This you will strike at the root of hatred and enmity and he who is your enemy will become your friend.
—The Holy Quran Sacred Scripture of Islam
Forgive and forget.
—Common Proverb
Forgiving is love’s toughest work, and love’s biggest risk. If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it can make you a doormat or an insufferable manipulator. Forgiving seems almost unnatural. Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay for the wrong they do. But forgiving is love’s power to break nature’s rule.
—Lewis B. Smedes (1921–2002) American Christian Author, Ethicist, Theologian, Academic
Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance and love have no end, and the Lord of life holds all who die and all who mourn.
—George W. Bush (b.1946) American Head of State, Businessperson
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
—Paul Boese
For my part I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all of us love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour — unceasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.
—Henri Nouwen (1932–96) Dutch Catholic Priest, Writer, Theologian
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet
The human heart in its perversity finds it hard to escape hatred and revenge.
—Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–46) Italian Jewish Rabbi, Philosopher
When you forgive somebody else you accept the responsibility for your own future.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
I worry about fast forgivers. They tend to forgive quickly in order to avoid their pain. Or they forgive fast in order to gain an advantage over the people they forgive. And their instant forgiving only makes things worse… People who have been wronged badly and wounded deeply should give themselves time and space before they forgive… There is a right moment to forgive.
—Lewis B. Smedes (1921–2002) American Christian Author, Ethicist, Theologian, Academic
You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life you have known yourself to be these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Keeping score of old scores and scars, getting even and one-upping, always makes you less than you are.
—Malcolm Forbes (1919–90) American Publisher
An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
We forgive freely or we do not really forgive at all.
—Lewis B. Smedes (1921–2002) American Christian Author, Ethicist, Theologian, Academic
That a partner ‘gets’ you, this is what above all cements love: love as accurate (but still benevolent) interpretation.
—Marty Nemko (b.1950) American Career Coach, Author
Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
If men wound you with injuries, meet them with patience: hasty words rankle the wound, soft language dresses it, forgiveness cures it, and oblivion takes away the scar. It is more noble by silence to avoid an injury than by argument to overcome it.
—Francis Beaumont (1584–1616) English Dramatist
Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong ones in the past — the best evidence of regret for them that we can offer, or the world receive.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
True penitence condemns to silence. What a man is ready to recall he would be willing to repeat.
—F. H. Bradley (1846–1924) British Philosopher
Forgiveness is a virtue of the learned. To err is human, to forgive divine.
—Subhashita Manjari
Advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
—Jerry Della Femina (b.1936) American Advertising Executive
We may not know how to forgive, and we may not want to forgive; but the very fact we say we are willing to forgive begins the healing practice.
—Louise Hay (b.1926) American Author
Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans.
—Robert E. Lee (1807–70) Confederate General during American Civil War
Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself.
—Ausonius Latin Poet, Rhetorician
Repentance is accepted remorse.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Christian Mystic
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
—Lewis B. Smedes (1921–2002) American Christian Author, Ethicist, Theologian, Academic
A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
Forgiveness is the final form of love.
—Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American Protestant Theologian, Editor
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
—Unknown
What we forgive too freely doesn’t stay forgiven.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
When you pray for anyone you tend to modify your personal attitude toward him.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
In my youth I stressed freedom, and in my old age I stress order. I have made the great discovery that liberty is a product of order.
—William C. Durant (1861–1947) American Entrepreneur, Business
If the people around you are spiteful and callous and will not hear you, fall down before them and beg their forgiveness; for in truth you are to blame for their not wanting to hear you.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81) Russian Novelist, Essayist, Writer
Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of the nonessentials.
—Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese Writer, Inventor
The heart has always the pardoning power.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Christian Mystic
Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the full value of time and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (b.1814) American Universalist Preacher
We forgive too little; forget too much.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Christian Mystic
The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
To be wronged or robbed is nothing unless you continue to remember it.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness. We pardon to the extent that we love. Love is knowing that even when you are alone, you will never be lonely again. & great happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. Loved for ourselves. & even loved in spite of ourselves.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
If deeply based in wisdom, even anger is allowed.
—Hans Taeger
Pardon, not wrath, is God’s best attribute.
—Bayard Taylor (1825–78) American Poet, Literary Critic, Translator, Translator
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
To err is human, to forgive divine.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man.
Kites rise against, not with the wind.
No man ever worked his passage anywhere in a dead calm.
—John Neal
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 (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Some have the wisdom of old age and the energy of youth. Most have the wisdom of youth, and the energy of old age.
—Unknown
To what extent is any given man morally responsible for any given act? We do not know.
—Alexis Carrel (1873–1944) American Surgeon, Biologist
Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. American Author
People do not mind their faults being spread out before them, but they become impatient if called on to give them up.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Of all acts of man repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
—Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) South African Political leader
You can make up a quarrel, but it will always show where it was patched.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) British Baptist Preacher, Theologian, Hymn writer
Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.
—Indira Gandhi (1917–84) Indian Head of State
Yesterday is a cancelled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have — so spend it wisely.
—Unknown
I firmly believe a great many prayers are not answered because we are not willing to forgive someone.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
God may forgive your sins, but your nervous system won’t.
—Alfred Korzybski (1879–1950) Polish-American Scientist, Philosopher of Language
A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher