199 Forgiveness Quotes

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.

I agree with your remark about loving your enemy as far as actions are concerned. But for me the cognitive basis is the trust in an unrestricted causality. 'I cannot hate him, because he must do what he does.' That means for me more Spinoza than the prophets.

It is easy to love one's enemy when one is making fine speeches; but so difficult to do so in the actual everyday work of life.

Holding a grudge does not hurt the person against whom the grudge is held, it hurts the one who holds it.

I can so clearly distinguish between the criminal and his crime; I can so sincerely forgive the first while I abhor the last.

The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.

You accept certain unlovely things about yourself and manage to live with them. The atonement for such an acceptance is that you make allowances for others - that you cleanse yourself of the sin of self-righteousness.

Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself.

A marriage based on full confidence, based on complete and unqualified frankness on both sides; they are not keeping anything back; there's no deception underneath it all. If I might so put it, it's an agreement for the mutual forgiveness of sin.

Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking an enemy than for letting it alone.

I've looked on many women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me.

In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow men, not knowing what they do.

I have pondered long, and I know now that only the pure of heart forgive the thirst that leads to dead waters. And only the sure of foot can give a hand to him who stumbles.

To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that the one that must be loved is not a friend. There is no merit in loving an enemy when you forget him for a friend.

Whether men soar to outer space or dive to the bottom of the deepest ocean they will find themselves as they are, unchanged, because they will not have forgotten themselves nor remembered to exercise the charity of forgiveness.

Had I not sinned what would there be for you to pardon. My fate has given you the opportunity for mercy.

If this be not love, it is madness, and then it is pardonable.

Men are apt to offend ('tis true) where they find most goodness to forgive.

I believe that time, with its infinite understanding, will one day forgive me.

I can't hate for long. It isn't worth it.

To be totally understanding makes one very indulgent.

Why, when the world gets to understand about it I expect that two men or two women, or a man and a woman, will come in here, and say to me, 'We have quarrelled and outraged each other, we have injured our friend, our wife, our husband; we regret, we would forgive, but we cannot, because we remember. Put between us the atonement of forgetfulness, that we may love each other as of old.

We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry, or because they remain intrigued with each other, because of many kindnesses, because of luck . . . But part of it has got to be forgiveness and gratefulness.

Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon.

A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished.

Esperando (Cuando Cuba Sea Libre) is probably one of the most personal songs from the new [September, 2007] CD, '90 Millas' . . . as it really speaks about the celebration, nostalgia and emotion that will happen the day Cuba is free. If we're to move forward in Cuba, we really have to have a lot of forgiveness for each other and look towards the future.

'Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat.'

In the Bible it says they asked Jesus how many times you should forgive, and he said 70 times 7. Well, I want you all to know that I'm keeping a chart.

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

You [Jews] did slay Christ, you did lift violent hands against the Master, you did spill his precious blood. This is why you have no chance for atonement, excuse, or defense.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

I too died. But in the depth of my oblivion I heard Him speak and say, 'Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.' And His voice sought my drowned spirit and I was brought back to the shore. And I opened my eyes and I saw His white body hanging against the cloud, and His words that I had heard took the shape within me and became a new man. And I sorrowed no more. Who would sorrow for a sea that is unveiling its face, or for a mountain that laughs in the sun? Was it ever in the heart of man, when that heart was pierced, to say such words? What other judge of men has released His judges? And did ever love challenge hate with power more certain of itself? Was ever such a trumpet heard 'twixt heaven and earth? Was it known before that the murdered had compassion on his murderers? Or that the meteor stayed his footsteps for the mole? The seasons shall tire and the years grow old, ere they exhaust these words: 'Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.'

Be forgiving and big hearted

Please give me a second grace

I can't hold on very long Forgive me, pretty baby, but I always take the long way home

It was me You were a tool It was me We forgive you

I'm not a very demanding man. I don't expect perfection from others. I get along and do my part. But when someone treats me like a worm, as if I didn't exist, as if I didn't matter, then I don't forget, no, I never forget, I never forgive, I simply bide my time and then they see: I do matter, and despising me was the gravest error of their lives

It was like a bunch of children, doing something they knew they shouldn't ought to, and then their pa comes along and catches them at it. Having been caught in such mischief himself sometimes, he almost felt a little sympathy

Cristoforo smiled, held out his arms, and embraced the lying bastard

She had to forgive him, because Jesus would have. Well, Jesus ended up dead. That was the way it was with all gentle, weak people. And damn few of them got resurrected, either. It was only beneficent power - law, money, prestige - that kept trusting fools alive

A house of your own soon enough It was this house I wanted to belong in. He hates me now,, and ill never have a chance again to make it right Give him time to see you as a man on your own, and he'll come around, you'll see. Now me. He wont forgive me. I look too much like grandfather, don't you see? I never had a chance here

God to forgive me cause it's wrong but I plan to die

Will I survive til the mo'nin, to see the sun/Please Lord forgive me for my sins, cause here I come

Father forgive us for livin while all my homies stuck in prison/Barely breatin believin that the world is a prison

And do not forgive indeed it is beyond your power to forgive in the name of those betrayed at dawn

Sins are not forgiven to anyone, unless when the priest forgives them he believes they are forgiven;

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.

For my part I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance.

My punishment is far heavier, I forgive you, and set you free.

Apologize, v. To lay the foundation for a future offense.

Great services are not cancelled by one act or by one single error.

Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal.

When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house.

The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape?

No matter what he does, one always forgives him. It does not depend upon looks, either - although this actual person is abominably good-looking - it does not depend upon intelligence or character or - anything - as you say, it is just 'it'.

Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another.

The motto should not be: Forgive one another; rather, Understand one another.

Il ne faut pas s'offenser que les autres nous cachent la verite, puisque nous nous la cachons si souvent a nous-memes.

Nous pardonnons souvent a ceux qui nous ennuient, mais nous ne pouvons pardonner a ceux que nous ennuyons.

On pardonne tant que l'on aime.

Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.

As I rejected amnesty, so I reject revenge. I ask all Americans who ever asked for goodness and mercy in their lives, who ever sought forgiveness for their trespasses, to join in rehabilitating all the casualties of the tragic conflict of the past.

America needed recovery, not revenge. The hate had to be drained and the healing begun.

One should forgive one's enemies, but not before they are hanged.

Bien sur, il me pardonnera; c'est son metier. [Of course he will forgive me; that's his job.]

One cannot too soon forget his errors and misdemeanors. To dwell long upon them is to add to the offense. Repentance and sorrow can only be displaced by something better, which is as free and original as if they had not been.

Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.

Cultivo una rosa blanca En julio como en enero, Para el amigo sincero Que me da su mano franca. Y para el cruel que me arranca El corazon con que vivo, Cardo ni ortiga cultivo, Cultivo una rosa blanca.

'It was the scriptures that urged the people of this land to be tolerant and forgiving of others, even though they disagreed with their values and ways of life.'

The folly which we might have ourselves committed is the one which we are least ready to pardon in another.

Only the brave know how to forgive...A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.

Sin cannot tear you away from him [Christ], even though you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many murders.

Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.

It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.

All sins, except a sin against itself, Love should forgive. All lives, save loveless lives, true Love should pardon.

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.

'The healing of a nation is a slow process that requires patience. It begins with truth telling, the confession of wrong-doing, the genuine respect for forgiveness and the willingness to accept the consequences of one's actions.'

To my disappointment I now realized that to know all is not to forgive all. It is to despise everybody.

'The Reconciliation, Tolerance and Unit Bill is about unity. It is abut forgiveness and working together. Above all, it s about the security of our future - different races, one nation. That is what the Bill is all about.'

'I bear no malice towards anyone, be it my jailer or the magistrate who sent me in or my political opponent. I do not hate or despite anyone.'

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we are saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we are saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own,; therefore, we are saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.

There can be no country or dignity without unity of the people, and there can be no unity without agreement, and there can be no agreement without conciliation, and there can be no conciliation without forgiveness and compromise.

Women seem to have almost unlimited capacity for forgiveness. (Since it is usually a man who needs forgiveness, this must be a racial survival trait.)

Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee And I'll forgive Thy great big one on me.

I do not believe in forgiveness as it is preached by the church. We do not need the forgiveness of God, but of each other and of ourselves. If I rob Mr. Smith and God forgives me, how does that help Smith? If I, by slander, cover some poor girl with the leprosy of some imputed crime, and she withers away like a blighted flower and afterward I get the forgiveness of God, how does that help her? If there is another world, we have got to settle with the people we have wronged in this. No bankrupt court there. Every cent must be paid...

They say that God says to me, 'Forgive your enemies.' I say, 'I do'; but he says, 'I will damn mine.' God should be consistent. If he wants me to forgive my enemies he should forgive his. I am asked to forgive enemies who can hurt me. God is only asked to forgive enemies who cannot hurt him. He certainly ought to be as generous as he asks us to be. And I want no God to forgive me unless I am willing to forgive others, and unless I do forgive others. All I ask, if that be true, is that this God should act according to his own doctrine. If I am to forgive my enemies, I ask him to forgive his. I do not believe in the religion of faith, but of kindness, of good deeds. The idea that man is responsible for his belief is at the bottom of religious intolerance and persecution.

Victory makes forgiveness easy.

Reflecting upon the whole of the story, I am glad not to be responsible for the way in which Hess has been and is being treated. Whatever may be the moral guilt of a German who stood near to Hitler, Hess had, in my view, atoned for this by his completely devoted and frantic deed of lunatic benevolence. He came to us of his own free will, and, though without authority, had something of the quality of an envoy. He was a medical and not a criminal case, and should be so regarded.