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Reason to rule, mercy to forgive: The first is law, the last prerogative. Life is an adventure in forgiveness.
Sep 10, 2025
To forgive freely, is what we owe to our enemy; to forget not, is what we owe to ourselves.
Life, that ever needs forgiveness, has, for its first duty, to forgive.
As long as we love, we can forgive.
we can forgive anything as long as it isn't done to us.
We have to figure out how to let go, and forgive. This is our job.
the heart that is truly virtuous is ever inclined to pity and forgive the errors of its fellow-creatures.
We cannot with all our heart forgive someone who does us wrong unless we possess real knowledge. For this knowledge shows us that we deserve all we experience.
Don't do it quickly, but don't wait too long... If we wait too long to forgive, our rage settles in and claims squatter's rights to our souls.
Will not God, who has commanded men to act thus, do as much himself and even more? For God commanded Peter to forgive till seventy times seven.
The sign of sincere love is to forgive wrongs done to us. It was with such love that the Lord loved the world.
Few suffer more than those who refuse to forgive themselves.
Life's too short not to forgive.
My uncomfortable duty as a Christian is to confess the truth, so lethal to our self-centered human nature: 'Jesus, who suffered your sin unto his own death, calls you likewise to forgive, so that God's purposes may be accomplished in both you and your offender.
I worry about fast forgivers. They tend to forgive quickly in order to avoid their pain. Or they forgive fast in order to get 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. We cannot predict it in advance; we can only get ourselves ready for it when it arrives... Don't do it quickly, but don't wait too long.
I have seen that every one forgives much in themselves that they find unpardonable in other people.
It makes you feel very virtuous when you forgive people, doesn't it?
In our relations with the people around us, we forgive them more readily for what they do, which they can help, than for what they are, which they cannot help.
The truly great man is as apt to forgive as his power is able to revenge.
But they're family, and you forgive them, even if they are human equivalent of hyenas. Because that's what you do, Posey. Forgive.
I learned a long time ago that some people would rather die than forgive. It's a strange truth, but forgiveness is a painful and difficult process. It's not something that happens overnight. It's an evolution of the heart.
To forgive all is as inhuman as to forgive none
Failure to do the good that is within your power is hard to forgive. But mercy and prayer reclaim the negligent.
The friend who holds up before me the mirror, conceals not my smallest faults, warns me kindly, reproves me affectionately, when I have not performed my duty, he is my friend, however little he may appear so. But if a man praises and lauds me, never reproves me, overlooks my faults, and forgives them before I have repented, he is my enemy, however much he may appear my friend.
As nice as we are in love, we forgive more faults in that than in friendship.
Experience is how life catches up with us and teaches us to love and forgive each other.
If you can forgive yourself then you will no longer see the reflection of your own internal judgement in the faces of the people around you. And if you can do that then suddenly you’ll be in a whole different universe because the universe we all exist in is the one where we’re all so terrified of the judgement of our peers.
My desire is to be a forgiving, non-judgmental person.
Forgive me for startling you with the impetuosity of my sentiments, my dear Scarlett—I mean, my dear Mrs. Kennedy. It cannot have escaped your notice that for some time past the friendship I have had in my heart for you has ripened into a deeper feeling, a feeling more beautiful, more pure, more sacred. Dare I name it you? Ah! It is love which makes me so bold!
Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury.
When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even our virtues.
The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.
I once picked up a woman from a garbage dump and she was burning with fever; she was in her last days and her only lament was: My son did this to me. I begged her: You must forgive your son. In a moment of madness, when he was not himself, he did a thing he regrets. Be a mother to him, forgive him. It took me a long time to make her say: I forgive my son. Just before she died in my arms, she was able to say that with a real forgiveness. She was not concerned that she was dying. The breaking of the heart was that her son did not want her. This is something you and I can understand.
The choice to follow love through to its completion is the choice to seek completion within ourselves. The point at which we shut down on others is the point at which we shut down on life. We heal as we heal others, and we heal others by extending our perceptions past their weaknesses. Until we have seen someone’s darkness, we don’t really know who that person is. Until we have forgiven someone’s darkness, we don’t really know what love is. Forgiving others is the only way to forgive ourselves, and forgiveness is our greatest need.
This doctrine of forgiveness of sin is a premium on crime. Forgive us our sins means Let us continue in our iniquity. It is one of the most pernicious of doctrines, and one of the most fruitful sources of immorality. It has been the chief cause of making Christian nations the most immoral of nations. In teaching this doctrine Christ committed a sin for which his death did not atone, and which can never be forgiven. There is no forgiveness of sin. Every cause has its effect; every sinner must suffer the consequences of his sins.
"Love covers a multitude of sins," (I Pet. 4:8). That is, for love towards one's neighbor, God forgives the sins of the one who loves.
When we harbor negative emotions toward others or toward ourselves, or when we intentionally create pain for others, we poison our own physical and spiritual systems. By far the strongest poison to the human spirit is the inability to forgive oneself or another person. It disables a person's emotional resources. The challenge...is to refine our capacity to love others as well as ourselves and to develop the power of forgiveness.
But when I lose my temper, I find it difficult to forgive myself. I feel I've failed. I can be calm in a crisis, in the face of death or things that hurt badly. I don't get hysterical, which may be masochistic of me.
There are techniques of Buddhism, such as meditation, that anyone can adopt. And, of course, there are Christian monks and nuns who already use Buddhist methods in order to develop their devotion, compassion, and ability to forgive.
I wouldn't want to waste any of my brain cells on forgiving if it's holding me back.
One of the things that bugs me about the Western Literary Tradition is that the conventions of narrative in particular seem to confine the stories you can tell about characters to tropes of bone-headed action and old models of psychological realism. And as readers, too, we have been conditioned to understand characters as - and forgive me for saying it out loud - what the market says they should be. Namely, safe, clean, proper.
The secret of a successful relationship is avoiding the unforgivable and forgiving the unavoidable.
There's such a freewheeling nature to 'Second City,' and the greatest thing about 'Second City' was having a sophisticated audience night after night who appreciated what it was. They knew it wasn't all going to be great when you improvised, so they were very forgiving that way.
People may fail many times, but they become failures only when they begin to blame someone else. Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
I was a threat to a lot of women and to a lot of men. The women cannot forgive me if I remain single and also have a family. But I have a family as well and am raising them. A lot of women only stay in their marriages because of the children so seeing me on my own annoys them.
God’s perspective on us is remarkable, almost unbelievable. He delights in us and loves us as a caring Father. He’s running toward us, ready to embrace and forgive us. He’s for us in all the pain of life and can sustain us in every challenge. as i learn to see from God’s perspective, my perspective on everything else shifts. i realize that my failures don't disqualify me. i’m aware of the security i already have in God’s grace. i trust that nothing will separate me from the love of God in Christ.
Living in fear is what every hater, negative person, and the devil wants. Live a righteous life with God and nothing but positivity. You must forgive anyone who has done you dirty, and move on. Your personal life, career, and love life will be that much more amazing after. Life is too short to live it being empty inside, sad, angry, and defensive just to hide your pain. Let it all go and let love and happiness in. Put yourself out there all the way and don't be fearful of losing love. If you don't live life by fully enjoying it and opening your heart, your just not living.
We need to forgive - but mindfully. We need compassion that powered by wisdom. That's the way to address our bullies.
There is a fine balance between honoring the past and losing yourself in it. For example, you can acknowledge and learn from mistakes you made, and then move on and refocus on the now. It is called forgiving yourself.
Forgive! How many will say, forgive, and find a sort of absolution in the sound to hate a little longer!