Quotes about forgiveness

Whoever approaches Me walking, I will come to him running; and he who meets Me with sins equivalent to the whole world, I will greet him with forgiveness equal to it.

— Mishkat Al-massabaih

In contrast to revenge, which is the natural, automatic reaction to transgression and which, because of the irreversibility of the action process can be expected and even calculated, the act of forgiving can never be predicted; it is the only reaction that acts in an unexpected way and thus retains, though being a reaction, something of the original character of action.

— Hannah Arendt

Thou must be emptied of that wherewith thou art full, that thou mayest be filled with that whereof thou art empty.

— St. Augustine

You should pardon many things in others, nothing in yourself.

— Auson

Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself.

— Decimus Magnus Ausonius

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.

— Francis Bacon

They who forgive most shall be most forgiven.

— Josiah Bailey

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.

— Arthur James Balfour

I never forgive, but I always forget.

— Arthur James Balfour

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.

— Honore De Balzac

Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends.

— Henry Ward Beecher

Giving The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men.

— Henry Ward Beecher

God pardons like a mother, who kisses the offense into everlasting forgiveness.

— Henry Ward Beecher

I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note -- torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.

— Henry Ward Beecher

I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I cannot forgive.

— Henry Ward Beecher

My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. [Job 14:17]

— Bible

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. [Ephesians 1:7]

— Bible

And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. [Ephesians 4:32]

— Bible

There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.

— Josh Billings

Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.

— Paul Boese

Forgive those who have hurt you.

— Les Brown

Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.

— Les Brown

We all like to forgive, and love best not those who offend us least, nor who have done most for us, but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them.

— Samuel Butler

Absolute virtue is impossible and the republic of forgiveness leads, with implacable logic, to the republic of the guillotine.

— Albert Camus

One can't relive one's life. Forgiveness is not what's difficult; one's always too ready to forgive. And it does no good, that's obvious.

— Louis-Ferdinand Celine

Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.

— Edwin Hubbel Chapin

Little, vicious minds abound with anger and revenge, and are incapable of feeling the pleasure of forgiving their enemies.

— Lord Chesterfield

Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever. It implies a discovery of weakness, which we are more careful to conceal than a crime. Many a man will confess his crimes to a friend; but I never knew a man that would tell his silly weaknesses to his most intimate one.

— Lord Chesterfield

Love thy neighbor as thyself: Do not to others what thou wouldn't not wish be done to thyself: Forgive injuries. Forgive thy enemy, be reconciled to him, give him assistance, invoke God in his behalf.

— Confucius

Those who easily forgive invite offenses.

— Pierre Corneille

It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend.

— Madame Dorothe Deluzy

When you are happy you can forgive a great deal.

— Princess of Wales Diana

Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.

— Marlene Dietrich

What is forgiven is usually well remembered.

— Louis Dudek

Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.

— Tryon Edwards

Forgive, son; men are men; they needs must err.

— Euripides

A man must learn to forgive himself.

— Arthur Davison Ficke

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

— St. Francis of Assisi

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.

— Indira Gandhi

If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.

— Kahlil Gibran

If a good person does you wrong, act as though you had not noticed it. They will make note of this and not remain in your debt long.

— Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

To forgive oneself? No, that doesn't work: we have to be forgiven. But we can only believe this is possible if we ourselves can forgive.

— Dag Hammarskjold

A winner rebukes and forgives; a loser is too timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive

— Sidney J. Harris

Of course God will forgive me; that's His job.

— Heinrich Heine

God will forgive me, that's his business.

— Heinrich Heine

He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for everyone has need to be forgiven.

— George Herbert

Forgive you? -- Oh, of course, dear, a dozen times a week! We women were created forgiveness but to speak.

— Ella Higginson

A woman who can't forgive should never have more than a nodding acquaintance with a man.

— Edgar Watson Howe

Nobody ever forgets where he buried the hatchet.

— Kin Hubbard

The condition of being forgiven is self-abandonment. The proud man prefers self-reproach, however painful --because the reproached self isn't abandoned; it remains intact.

— Aldous Huxley

If I owe Smith ten dollars and God forgives me, that doesn't pay Smith.

— Robert Green Ingersoll

I can have peace of mind only when I forgive rather than judge.

— Gerald G. Jampolsky

We easily pardon an offense we had part in.

— Juoy

We pardon to the extent that we love.

— Francois De La Rochefoucauld

He who has not forgiven an enemy has never yet tasted one of the most sublime enjoyments of life.

— Lauter

Forgive thyself little, and others much.

— Robert Leighton

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each person's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Forgiveness is God's command.

— Martin Luther

The best thing about giving of ourselves is that what we get is always better than what we give. The reaction is greater than the action.

— Orison Swett Marden

Forgiveness is the oil of relationships.

— Josh Mcdowell

The world can forgive practically anything except people who mind their own business.

— Margaret Mitchell

And if your friend does evil to you, say to him, I forgive you for what you did to me, but how can I forgive you for what you did to yourself?

— Friedrich Nietzsche

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.

— Plato

To err is human, to forgive is divine.

— Alexander Pope

How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense, and love the offender, yet detest the offence?

— Alexander Pope

Forgive and forget.

— Proverb

Never repeat old grievances.

— Proverb

A reconciled friend is a double enemy.

— Proverb

Those that do you a very ill deed will never forgive you.

— Proverb

If I die, I forgive you. If I live we shall see.

— Spanish Proverb

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.

— Rambler

Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.

— Jean Paul Richter

The secret of forgiving everything is to understand nothing.

— George Bernard Shaw

Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!

— George Bernard Shaw

It is a very delicate job to forgive a man, without lowering him in his own estimation, and yours too.

— Henry Wheeler Shaw

Their errors have been weighed and found to have been dust in the balance; if their sins were as scarlet, they are now white as snow: they have been washed in the blood of the mediator and the redeemer, Time.

— Percy Bysshe Shelley

There is no sense in crying over spilt milk. Why bewail what is done and cannot be recalled?

— Sophocles

Only the brave know how to forgive; it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at.

— Laurence Sterne

He who forgiveth, and is reconciled unto his enemy, shall receive his reward from God; for he loveth not the unjust doers.

— Koran Sura

Forgive! How many will say, forgive, and find a sort of absolution in the sound to hate a little longer!

— Lord Alfred Tennyson

To be able to bear provocation is an argument of great reason, and to forgive it of a great mind.

— John Tillotson

Forget and forgive. This is not difficult when properly understood. It means forget inconvenient duties, then forgive yourself for forgetting. By rigid practice and stern determination, it comes easy.

— Mark Twain

Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

— Mark Twain

Forgotten is forgiven.

— Source Unknown

He who forgives ends the quarrel

— Source Unknown

It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

— Source Unknown

Forgiveness is the key to happiness.

— Source Unknown

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it

— Mark Twain

Always forgive your enemies -- nothing annoys them so much.

— Oscar Wilde

God has a big eraser.

— Billy Zeoli

Many have been ruined by their fortunes, and many have escaped ruin by the want of fortune. To obtain it the great have become little, and the little great.

— Johann Georg Zimmermann

For a working definition of forgiveness, I think of it as restoring love.

— Charles Thomas

forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heal that crushed it.

— Source Unknown

there is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.

— Source Unknown

forgiveness is me giving up the right to hurt you for hurting me.

— Source Unknown

I donot know how to forgive myself for what I have done.

— Varsha Modi

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise

— Alden Nowlan

There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.

— Bryant McGill

APOLOGIZE, v. to lay the foundation for a future offense.

— Ambrose Bierce

Would not love see returning penitence afar off, and fall on its neck and kiss it?

— George Eliot