To forgive someone is probably one of the hardest things we have to do in life. It’s not always easy to admit you’re sorry or forget the pain the other person has caused you. However, this list of quotes about forgiveness we are sharing with you, will make you realize how important forgiveness is not only to make people who hurt you forgive themselves, but also to help you feel better and finally move on with your life. Happy reading!
Quotes About Forgiveness
1. Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning. – Desmond Tutu
2. There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love. – Bryant H. McGill
3. Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. – Mark Twain
4. To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. – Lewis B. Smedes
5. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. – Mahatma Gandhi
6. Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much. – Oscar Wilde
7. The stupid neither forgive nor forget, the naive forgive and forget, the wise forgive but do not forget. – Thomas Szasz
8. All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives. – Dalai Lama
9. Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours. – Phillips Brooks
10. I think the first step is to understand that forgiveness does not exonerate the perpetrator. Forgiveness liberates the victim. It’s a gift you give yourself. – T. D. Jakes
11. Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting. – William Arthur Ward
12. You can’t forgive without loving. And I don’t mean sentimentality. I don’t mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, ‘I forgive. I’m finished with it.’ – Maya Angelou
13. It’s not an easy journey, to get to a place where you forgive people. But it is such a powerful place, because it frees you. – Tyler Perry
14. Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another. – Emma Goldman
15. Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation. – Roberto Assagioli
16. When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free. – Katherine Ponder
17. Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again. – Saint Augustine
18. Forgotten is forgiven. – F. Scott Fitzgerald
19. The remedy for life’s broken pieces is not classes, workshops or books. Don’t try to heal the broken pieces. Just forgive. – Iyanla Vanzant
20. How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself. – Publilius Syrus
21. To understand somebody else as a human being, I think, is about as close to real forgiveness as one can get. – David Small
22. Forgiving what we cannot forgive creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future. – Lewis Smedes
23. When a deep injury is done to us, we never heal until we forgive. – Nelson Mandela
24. To err is human, to forgive, divine. – Alexander Pope
25. Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. – Hannah Arendt
26. There is nobility in compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness. – John Connolly
27. Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals. – Thomas S. Manson
28. When you forgive, you in no way change the past, but you sure do change the future. – Bernard Meltzer
29. Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. – John F. Kennedy
30. Forgiveness is a choice, but it is not an option. – Joel Osteen
31. Hate. It has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet. – Maya Angelou
32. It can be hard to forgive and let go but it’s important to remember that harboring the resentment and holding a grudge can hurt you even more. The word ‘forgive’ really means to give something up for yourself not for them. – Jack Canfield
33. Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
34. I forgive myself and set myself free. – Louise Hay
35. Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive. – C.S. Lewis
36. If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive. – Mother Theresa
37. Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. – Bruce Lee
38. If you cannot forgive and forget, pick one. – Robert Brault
39. Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours. – Phillips Brooks
40. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. – C.S. Lewis
41. Forgiveness is a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on. – Dr. Steve Maraboli
42. Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon. – Nelson Mandela
43. Forgiveness is not a feeling, it is a commitment. It is a choice to show mercy, not to hold the offence up against the offender. Forgiveness is an expression of love. – Gary Chapman
44. Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. – Mark Twain
45. When we don’t forgive, we’re not hurting the other person. We’re not hurting the company that did us wrong. We’re not hurting God. We’re only hurting ourselves. – Joel Osteen
46. Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave. – Indira Gandhi
47. What is forgiven is usually well remembered. – Louis Dudek
48. Forgiveness is not always easy. At times it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness. – Marianne Williamson
49. Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace. – Jonathan Huie
50. Forgiveness is the final form of love. – Reinhold Niebuhr
51. To forgive is to set a prisoner free, only to discover that the prisoner was you. – Lewis B. Smedes
52. Forgive others as quickly as you expect God to forgive you.
53. They caused the first wound, but you are causing the rest, this is what not forgiving does. They got it started, but you keep it going. Forgive and let it go, or it will eat you alive. You think they made you feel this way, but when you won’t forgive, you are the one inflicting the pain on yourself. – Bryant McGill
54. When you choose to forgive those who have hurt you, you take away their power.
55. Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. – Paul Boose
56. There is no peace without forgiveness. – Marianne Williamson
57. It takes a strong person to say sorry, and an even stronger person to forgive.
58. Forgiveness is not something we do for other people. It’s something we do for ourselves to move on.
59. There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love. – Bryant H. McGill
60. I can have peace of mind only when I forgive rather than judge. – Gerald Jampolsky
61. When you forgive, you heal. When you let go, you grow.
62. Forgive because none of us are perfect.
63. Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different. – Oprah Winfrey
64. f we really want to love we must learn how to forgive. – Mother Theresa
65. Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting, it means choosing to remember love instead. – Kyle Gray
66. Forgiving is not forgetting. It’s letting go of the hurt.
67. Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave. – Indira Gandhi
68. True forgiveness is when you can say Thank You for that experience. – Oprah Winfrey
69. The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. And the first to forget is the happiest.
70. There is a nobility is compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness. – John Connolly
71. Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.
72. Without forgiveness, there’s no future. – Desmond Tutu
73. Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. – Cherie Carter-Scott
74. When a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive. – Alan Paton
75. Forgiveness is a little thing when love is there. – Donna Jo Napoli
76. Forgiveness is the crown of greatness.
77. Just let it go, then forgive, it’s the better way to live. A grudge is like a cancer, true, it might just be the death of you. Forgive. Forget. Set it free. Let the wind carry it out to sea.
78. Forgiveness isn’t approving what happened. It’s choosing to rise above it. – Robin Sharma
79. The act of forgiveness takes place in our own mind. It really has nothing to do with the other person. – Louise Hay
80. It all begins with forgiveness because to heal the world, we first have to heal ourselves. And to heal the kids, we first have to heal the child within, each and every one of us. – Michael Jackson
81. Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God.
82. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. – Tony Robbins
83. Don’t ever underestimate the power of forgiveness. I’ve seen it free people. I’ve seen it life burdens that had weighed them down and kept them from moving on. – Buffy Andrews
84. Forgiveness should start now. Putting off forgiving only deepens the wound. Clinging to bitterness postpones happiness. Life is short, time is fleeting. Today is the day to forgive. – Wilfred Peterson
85. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. – Corrie Ten Boom
86. Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something; forgiveness, however, is for those who are substantial enough to move on. – Criss Jami
87. Forgiveness has nothing to do with absolving a criminal of his crime. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being victim, letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor. – C. R. Strahan
88. Listen. Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid that you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember. – Barbara Kingsolver
89. Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. – Hannah Arendt
90. Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals. – Thomas S. Manson
91. There is nobility in compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness. – John Connolly
92. When you forgive, you in no way change the past, but you sure do change the future. – Bernard Meltzer
93. It can be hard to forgive and let go but it’s important to remember that harboring the resentment and holding a grudge can hurt you even more. The word ‘forgive’ really means to give something up for yourself not for them. – Jack Canfield
94. Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours. – Phillips Brooks
95. Forgiveness is not a feeling, it is a commitment. It is a choice to show mercy, not to hold the offence up against the offender. Forgiveness is an expression of love. – Gary Chapman
96. Forgiveness is not always easy. At times it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness. – Marianne Williamson
97. Forgiveness is a sign that the person who has wronged you means more to you than the wrong they have dealt. – Ben Greenhalgh
98. A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. – Robert Quillen
99. Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them. – Marvin J. Ashton
100. 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
101. Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family. – Henri J. M. Nouwen
102. Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.
103. What I cannot love, I overlook. – Anaïs Nin
104. I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. – Abraham Lincoln
105. A broken friendship that is mended through forgiveness can be even stronger than it once was. – Stephen Richards
106. Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you are. – Cherie Carter-Scott
107. Sometimes what a person needs most is to be forgiven. – Jennifer McMahon
108. Three months ago, if you asked me, I would have told you that if you really loved someone, you’d let the go. But now I look at you, and I dreamed about Maggie, and I see that I’ve been wrong. If you really love someone, Allie, I think you take them back. – Jodi Picoult
109. In love, everyone does things that hurt the other person, so there is really no ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’. You just have to decide what you’re willing to forgive. – Yvonne Wood
110. You cannot forgive just once, forgiveness is a daily practice. – Sonia Rumzi
111. Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast. – Marlene Dietrich
112. Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies. – Nelson Mandela
113. Being forgiven is like having all the worst bits of yourself stuffed into a balloon and then having that balloon set free. – Shannon Wiersbitzky
114. The ability to forgive is one of man’s greatest achievements. – Bryant H. McGill
115. A life lived without forgiveness is a life lived in the past. – Asa Don Brown
116. A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. – Robert Quillen
117. If you can’t forgive and forget, pick one. – Robert Brault
118. We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
119. Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. – Isaac Friedmann
120. Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something. Forgiveness, however, is for those who are substantial enough to move on. – Criss Jami
121. Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. – Bruce Lee
122. Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. – Paul Boese
123. Forgive, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.
124. The man who forgives is far stronger than the man who fights. – Nathan Croall
125. To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it. – Confucius
126. Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive. – Paul Young
127. We cannot embrace God’s forgiveness if we are so busy clinging to past wounds and nursing old grudges. – T. D. Jakes
128. Forgiving men is so much easier than forgiving women. – Margaret Atwood
129. 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. – Sue Monk Kidd
130. A life lived without forgiveness is a prison. – William Arthur Ward
131. I believe forgiveness is the best form of love in any relationship. It takes a strong person to say they’re sorry and an even stronger person to forgive. – Yolanda Hadid
132. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
133. 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
134. When you make a mistake and the devil comes and tells you ‘You’re no good,’ you don’t have to take on the guilt and condemnation he wants to put on you. No. You can immediately confess your mistake to God, thank Him for forgiving you and cleansing you with the blood of Jesus, and move forward in the victory of His grace and forgiveness. – Joyce Meyer
135. Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness. – Marianne Williamson
136. We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
137. Many times, the decisions we make affect and hurt your closest friends and family the most. I have a lot of regrets in that regard. But God has forgiven me, which I am very thankful for. It has enabled me to forgive myself and move forward one day at a time. – Lex Luger
138. The most important thing that I learned in growing up is that forgiveness is something that, when you do it, you free yourself to move on. – Tyler Perry
139. There would be no need for love if perfection were possible. Love arises from our imperfection, from our being different and always in need of the forgiveness, encouragement and that missing half of ourselves that we are searching for, as the Greek myth tells us, in order to complete ourselves. – Eugene Kennedy
140. We think that forgiveness is weakness, but it’s absolutely not. It takes a very strong person to forgive. T. D. Jakes
141. Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past, and is therefore the means for correcting our misperceptions. – Gerald Jampolsky
142. Most of us need time to work through pain and loss. We can find all manner of reasons for postponing forgiveness. One of these reasons is waiting for the wrongdoers to repent before we forgive them. Yet such a delay causes us to forfeit the peace and happiness that could be ours. – James E. Faust
143. Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing. – August Wilson
144. Our lack of forgiveness makes us hate, and our lack of compassion makes us hard-hearted. Pride in our hearts makes us resentful and keeps our memory in a constant whirlwind of passion and self-pity. – Mother Angelica
145. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior. I believe that Jesus died for my sins, and rose again, and that’s my belief. I still don’t know what ‘Christian’ means. I’m a follower of Christ, but I keep making a whole bunch of mistakes. And I thank God for forgiveness. – Sherri Shepherd
146. Forgiveness isn’t just a blessing you deliver to another human being. Forgiveness is also a gift you give yourself. – Robin S. Sharma
147. Forgiveness is a way of opening up the doors again and moving forward, whether it’s a personal life or a national life. – Hillary Clinton
148. Forgiveness isn’t just the absence of anger. I think it’s also the presence of self-love, when you actually begin to value yourself. – Tara Westover
149. Forgiveness is for yourself because it frees you. It lets you out of that prison you put yourself in. – Louise L. Hay
150. When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future. – Bernard Meltzer
151. It’s not an easy journey, to get to a place where you forgive people. But it is such a powerful place, because it frees you. – Tyler Perry
152. We cannot embrace God’s forgiveness if we are so busy clinging to past wounds and nursing old grudges. – T. D. Jakes
153. Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive. – Marcus Tullius Cicero
154. Prejudice is sinful. All blood flows red. And the most harmful and foolish kind of prejudice is prejudice against yourself. Every woman is your sister, and every woman needs her sisters. So try to give other women the courtesy of your compassion, respect, and forgiveness. Love yourself despite – and because of – your flaws. – Jewell Parker Rhodes