Quotations on Forgiveness

“Forgiveness is that human quality that has more to do with the expectations of the person wanting forgiveness than it does the acceptance of forgiveness; either is typically subjective and rarely unconditional. Forgiving oneself is more of an effort than forgiving others, and yet, forgiving yourself is more important than receiving forgiveness from others. Learn to give and receive forgiveness unconditionally.” — Maxwell Jennings

Forgive and forget? Why not learn from your mistakes that affect other people so that you don’t repeat yourself in error. The following selected quotes are copied from brainyquote.com.

“A soft refusal is not always taken, but a rude one is immediately believed.” — Alexander Chase

“Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.” — Oscar Wilde

“For my part I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance.” — Adlai E. Stevenson

“Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself.” — Ausonius

“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.” — John F. Kennedy

“Forgiveness is a funny thing, it warms the hearts and cools the sting.” — Peter Allen

“Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.” — William A. Ward

“Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.” — Suzanne Somers

“Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” — Indira Gandhi

“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 Hammarskjold

“Forgiveness is the economy of the heart… forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.” — Hannah More

“Forgiveness is the final form of love.” — Reinhold Niebuhr

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” — Mark Twain

“Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.” — George MacDonald

“Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.” — Hannah Arendt

“Forgiveness means letting go of the past.” — Gerald Jampolsky

“He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.” — Thomas Fuller

“I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note – torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.” — Henry Ward Beecher

“I do not bring forgiveness with me, nor forgetfulness. The only ones who can forgive are dead; the living have no right to forget.” — Chaim Herzog

“If there is something to pardon in everything, there is also something to condemn.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.” — William Blake

“It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.” — Grace Hopper

“It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited.” — Lewis B. Smedes

“It’s far easier to forgive an enemy after you’ve got even with him.” — Olin Miller

“It’s said in Hollywood that you should always forgive your enemies – because you never know when you’ll have to work with them.” — Lana Turner

“Life is an adventure in forgiveness.” — Norman Cousins

“More and more people care about religious tolerance as fewer and fewer care about religion.” — Alexander Chase

“Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.” — Marlene Dietrich

“One forgives to the degree that one loves.” — Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.” — Elbert Hubbard

“The most imaginative people are the most credulous, for them everything is possible.” — Alexander Chase

“The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.” — Oscar Wilde

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” — Mohandas Gandhi

“There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” — Bryant H. McGill

“There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.” — Josh Billings

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.” — Alexander Pope

“To understand is to forgive, even oneself.” — Alexander Chase

“When a machine begins to run without human aid, it is time to scrap it – whether it be a factory or a government.” — Alexander Chase

“When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn’t work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.” — Emo Philips

“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

“When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.” — Bernard Meltzer

“Without forgiveness, there’s no future.” — Desmond Tutu

“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