quotations about forgiveness
Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself.
MAYA ANGELOU
Facebook post, Nov. 22, 2013
But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.
MARGARET ATWOOD
The Handmaid's Tale
Forgiveness is an absolute necessity for continued human existence.
DESMOND TUTU
attributed, Pastoral Care for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Healing the Shattered Soul
Forgiveness is like a magic slate -- it gives us a fresh start.
ROBERT C. KAUSEN
We've Got to Start Meeting Like This!
I also am other than what I imagine myself to be. To know this is forgiveness.
SIMONE WEIL
"Void and Compensation", Gravity and Grace
It is easier to forgive an Enemy than to forgive a Friend.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Jerusalem
The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire. Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to apologize and to accept an apology. Is there any problem that could not be solved among people who possessed the humility and largeness of spirit and soul to do either -- or both -- when needed?
GORDON B. HINCKLEY
Standing for Something
Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times (or seventy times seven)."
JESUS
Matthew 18:21
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
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 you forgive, you love. And when you love, God's light shines upon you.
JON KRAKAUER
Into the Wild
Remember, the purpose of forgiveness is to release yourself from the emotional attachment to the event. Forgiveness is like getting out of jail.
JIM BROWN
Spiritual Breadcrumbs from the Universe
Forgiveness is a strange thing. It can sometimes be easier to forgive our enemies than our friends. It can be hardest of all to forgive people we love. Like all of life's important coping skills, the ability to forgive and the capacity to let go of resentments most likely take root very early in our lives.
FRED ROGERS
The World According to Mister Rogers
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
Willingness to forgive frees the soul to laugh and cry and be The Beloved.
GITA BELLIN
The Flourishing Mind
They who forgive most shall be most forgiven.
PHILIP JAMES BAILEY
Festus
There is an ugly kind of forgiveness in this world--a kind of hedgehog forgiveness, shot out like quills.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
Forgiveness is like catching a little fish. You reel it in, and you make a decision to keep it or let it go. With the little ones, you take the hook out of its mouth and throw it back in. The scar from the hook doesn't go away and the fish ought to remember not to repeat the mistake. But the fish is back in the creek and free to do whatever fish do. The purpose of forgiveness is freedom, like being thrown back into the creek.
DAVID RYDER
The Hound of Tooty River
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
MATTHEW 6:14
Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
1957