quotations about forgiveness
Good, to forgive;
Best to forget.
ROBERT BROWNING
prologue, La Saisiaz
He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man had need to be forgiven.
LORD HERBERT
The Life of Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury
He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
1957
I know forgiveness is a man's duty, but, to my thinking, that can only mean as you're to give up all thoughts o' taking revenge: it can never mean as you're t' have your old feelings back again, for that's not possible.
GEORGE ELIOT
Adam Bede
I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded; not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.
KHALED HOSSEINI
The Kite Runner
If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
JESUS
Luke 17:3
It is easier to forgive an Enemy than to forgive a Friend.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Jerusalem
It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.
GRACE HOPPER
interview, "Only the Limits of Our Imagination", Chips Ahoy, July 1986
Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury.
EDWIN HUBBELL CHAPIN
attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers
Never forgive an injury or an insult so long as the offending parties have it in their power to make reparation; since, if they are able to do so, and will not, whatever they may pretend to others, they, up to that time, are only laughing at you, and triumphing in secret. If, however, they have not the power to neutralize an impertinence by explanation, or a fraud by restitution, forgive and forget either--as soon as you can.
CHARLES WILLIAM DAY
The Maxims
Nothing inspires forgiveness quite like revenge.
SCOTT ADAMS
attributed, Dictionary of Quotations
Surely it is much more generous to forgive and remember, than to forgive and forget.
MARIA EDGEWORTH
"An Essay on the Noble Science of Self-Justification", Tales and Novels
The offender never pardons.
GEORGE HERBERT
Jacula Prudentum
There comes a day when, for someone who has persecuted us, we feel only indifference, a weariness at his stupidity. Then we forgive him.
CESARE PAVESE
This Business of Living
They who forgive most shall be most forgiven.
PHILIP JAMES BAILEY
Festus
To err is human, to forgive, divine.
ALEXANDER POPE
An Essay on Criticism
To receive an injury is to be wounded; but to forgive and forget it is the cure.
WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY
Proverbs
True and genuine forgiveness, that which our Lord commands, buries all offenses beyond all hope of resurrection in the deep bosom of the ocean, and knows them again no more forever. Indeed, a friendship cemented by forgiveness is like iron welded--stronger at the point of juncture than elsewhere; or like a broken bone repaired--it will break anywhere else sooner than at the place of former fracture.
R. H. BENNETT
"The Law of Forgiveness", Homiletic Review, Volume 55
Unpacking forgiveness is like relocating a family. While you may move on a particular day, unpacking takes a lot longer. It's a process. Boxes remain packed for months, years even.
CHRIS BRAUNS
Unpacking Forgiveness
When our anger turns to bitterness it becomes like a weed in the garden of our heart. If we pull the weeds, our garden can stay healthy and alive. But if we allow bitter weeds to grow, eventually our garden becomes ugly and weeds choke the life out of the vegetables in our garden. Forgiveness is like pulling out the weeds.
MICHAEL E. MCCULLOUGH
To Forgive Is Human: How to Put Your Past in the Past