quotations about forgiveness
He who forgives readily only invites offense.
PIERRE CORNEILLE
Cinna
Forgiveness, that noblest of all self-denial, is a virtue, which he alone that can practice in himself, can willingly believe in another.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
JESUS
Luke 6:37
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
attributed, Mayor
Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
JESUS
Luke 11:4
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
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 healing ... especially forgiving yourself.
ALYSON NOËL
Evermore
Willingness to forgive frees the soul to laugh and cry and be The Beloved.
GITA BELLIN
The Flourishing Mind
The offender never pardons.
GEORGE HERBERT
Jacula Prudentum
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
It is right for him who asks forgiveness for his offenses to grant it to others.
HORACE
Satires
He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
1957
Forgotten is forgiven.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
The Crack-Up
Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note, torn in two and burned up, so that it never can be shown against the man.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Life Thoughts
Forgiveness is like the gentle zephyrs wafting the dew of heaven over field, farm and woodland, rendering the landscape beautiful to behold.
C.L.W.
"Forgiveness", The Juvenile Instructor, Volume 25
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 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 there are two kinds of forgiveness in the world: the one you practice because everything really is all right, and what went before is mended. The other kind of forgiveness you practice because someone needs desperately to be forgiven, or because you need just as badly to forgive them, for a heart can grab hold of old wounds and go sour as milk over them.
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
The Fairyland Series
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