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.

Go, forget me! why should sorrow O'er that brow a shadow fling? Go, forget me, and to-morrow

This is practically the language used to fallen women, and chiefly by their own sex: 'God may forgive you, but we never can!' - a declaration which, however common, in spirit if not in substance, is, when one comes to analyse it, unparalleled in its arrogance of blasphemy. That for a single offence, however grave, a whole life should be blasted, is a doctrine repugnant even to Nature's own dealings in the visible world. ~ Ch. 11

I am a patient man - always willing to forgive on the Christian terms of repentance; and also to give ample time for repentance. Still I must save this government if possible.

He is innocent of wrong-doing, and so am I. We shall forgive each other and go on. It was a good decision, and [she] was proud of it. The trouble was, she couldn't carry it out

Finish every day and be done with it. For manners and for wise living it is a vice to remember. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. To-morrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

And throughout all eternity I forgive you, you forgive me.

It is a severe Rebuke upon us, that God makes us so many Allowances, and we make so few to our Neighbor: As if Charity had nothing to do with Religion; Or Love with Faith, that ought to work by it. (549)

His deeds yet live, the worst is yet to come. Yet let your sleep for this one night be sound: I do forgive him!

I was determined to wipe Audrey out of my mind by screwing a woman in every country I visited. My plan succeeded, though sometimes with difficulty. When I was in Bangkok, I was with a Thai girl in a boat in one of the klongs. I guess we got too animated, because the boat tipped over and I fell into the filthy water. Back at the hotel I poured alcohol in my ears because I was afraid I'd become infected with the plague.' When I got back to Hollywood, I went to Audrey's dressing-room and told her what I had done. You know what she sad? 'Oh, Bill!' That's all. 'Oh, Bill!'. Just as though I were some naughty boy.'

Forgiveness: 'The ability to forgive is one of man's greatest achievements.'

Love: 'There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.'

Whatever else he was during his life, he was never dull, and the world forgives almost anything but stupidity.

Forgiving sins, I should have known, is not blotting them out. The blood of Christ only turns them red instead of black. It leaves them in the record. It leaves them in the memory.

The difference between the past and present selves of the same individual is so great as to make them different persons for all moral purposes. That single fact we were just speaking of-the fact that no man would care for vengeance on one who had injured him, provided he knew that all memory of the offence had been blotted utterly from his enemy's mind-proves the entire proposition. It shows that it is not the present self of his enemy that the avenger is angry with at all, but the past self. Even in the blindness of his wrath he intuitively recognizes the distinction between the two.

Everything has two handles, one by which it may be borne, the other by which it may not. If your brother sin against you lay not hold of it by the handle of his injustice, for by that it may not be borne: but rather by this, that he is your brother, the comrade of your youth; and thus you will lay hold on it so that it may be borne. (174)

What I need is a good defense 'Cause I'm feeling like a criminal And I need to be redeemed To the one I've sinned against Because he's all I ever knew of love.

Cosmus, Duke of Florence, was wont to say of perfidious friends, that 'We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends.'

To the Gods we ne'er can render Praise for every good they grant; Let us, with devotion tender, Minister to grief and want. Quenched be hate and wrath forever, Pardoned be our mortal foe- May our tears upbraid him never, No repentance bring him low!

Sense of wrongs forget to treasure- Brethren, live in perfect love! In the starry realms above, God will mete as we may measure.

We forgive principally for our own sake, so that we may cease to bear the burden of rancour.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope, that my Country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that.

Narrated Umm Khalid: I (the daughter of Khalid ibn Said) went to Allah's Messenger with my father and I was wearing a yellow shirt. Allah's Messenger said, 'Sanah, Sanah!' (`Abdullah, the narrator, said that sanah meant 'good' in the Ethiopian language). I then started playing with the seal of prophethood (between the Prophet's shoulders) and my father rebuked me harshly for that. Allah's Messenger said, 'Leave her.' The Prophet, then, invoked Allah to grant her a long life thrice.

While a man was walking along a road, he became very thirsty and found a well. He lowered himself into the well, drank, and came out. Then [he saw] a dog protruding its tongue out with thirst. The man said: 'This dog has become exhausted from thirst in the same way as I.' He lowered himself into the well again and filled his shoe with water. He gave the dog some water to drink. He thanked God, and [his sins were] forgiven. The Prophet was then asked: 'Is there a reward for us in our animals?' He said: 'There is a reward in every living thing.'

'Everything in existence prays for the forgiveness of the person who teaches the Qur'an - even the fish in the sea.'

'Surely the recitation of the Qur'an is an atonement for the sins, a covering (protection) from the Hell Fire, and a safety from the punishment. Mercy will descend upon the reciter, the Angels will seek forgiveness for him, Heaven will long for that person, and his Master (Allah) will be pleased with him.'

'A person who circumambulates this House (the Ka'bah) seven times and performs the two Rak'at Salat (of Tawaaf) in the best form possible will have his sins forgiven.'

'The greatest sin of a person who goes to 'Arafat and then leaves is to think that he has not been forgiven of his sins.'

I have gone through what no other mortal on earth has gone through; I put my lips to the hands of the man who has killed my children.

Lorsque les femmes nous aiment, elles nous pardonnent tout, meme nos crimes; lorsqu'elles ne nous aiment pas, elles ne nous pardonnent rien, pas meme nos vertus!

Pity and forbearance, and long-sufferance and fair interpretation, and excusing our brother, and taking in the best sense, and passing the gentlest sentence, are as certainly our duty, and owing to every person that does offend and can repent, as calling to account can be owing to the law, and are first to be paid; and he that does not so is an unjust person.

Do you dare deny my potency my kindness or forgiveness?

The obvious answer is to follow the standards and the priorities that were established so clearly by the words and actions of Jesus Christ, who was dedicated to justice, peace, humility, service, compassion, and love. I would put an emphasis at this moment among Christians on forgiveness and accommodation.

With increasing maturity, I have learned to understand the fallibilities of ourselves and others, to forgive. Forgiveness is a basic foundation of my faith. It's through this exchange of criticism, based on mutual understanding and forgiveness, that we are able to grow.

I beg all of you standing here to forgive me the harm that I may have done you. Please pray for me.

You bid me burn your letters. But I must forget you first.

Yo no hablo de venganzas ni perdones, el olvido es la unica venganza y el unico perdon.

Above all, we must forgive the unhappy souls who have elected to make the pilgrimage on foot, who skirt the shore and look uncomprehendingly upon the horror of the struggle, the joy of victory, the profound hopelessness of the vanquished.

Yes, God forgives and men forget, And you're forgiven and forgotten. You might be gaily sinning yet And quick and fresh instead of rotten. And when you think of love and fame And all that might have come to pass, Then don't you feel a little shame? And don't you think you were an ass?

Poet, Singer, Great Heart, May our God bless your name, And the womb that held you, and the breasts that gave you milk. And may God forgive us all.

'Last year (October 2004), the nation celebrated a week of reconciliation and forgiveness, supported by all our main religions and numerous civic organizations and individuals from all our ethnic groups. Some of those who had suffered particular hurt in 2000, questioned the motives behind this and did not feel they could take part. Their views must be respected. They endured an ordeal which left deep wounds.'

'With a resounding yes I say we can reconcile and that it really is a matter of the heart.' (27 July 2005)

'Two thousand and five is our Year of Forgiveness in Fiji. Again, we are seeking God's help in reconciliation and in making the country whole. Each of the great religions teaches forgiveness. That is a golden thread that links them.'

'For Christians, the rules are clear. They are under order to forgive. We must follow those orders, no matter how difficult they appear. If we do not forgive, God will not forgive us. That is the beginning and the end of it.'

'The forgiveness of Christ is complete, and without condition. It is not dependent on an apology, or tied to a punishment.'

Fare thee well! and if forever, Still forever, fare thee well: Even though unforgiving, never 'Gainst thee shall my heart rebel.

And if we do but watch the hour, There never yet was human power Which could evade, if unforgiven, The patient search and vigil long Of him who treasures up a wrong.

A clean confession combined with a promise never to commit the sin again, when offered before one who has the right to receive it, is the purest of repentance.

Hate the sin and not the sinner.

You did what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better.

What cannot be healed has been healed. What was lost forever has been found. Therefore let that which cannot be forgiven be forgiven.

Which is the greater wrong? To hurt the unforgiving one, or hurt the one who has forgiven all?

The absurd and execrable doctrine of vengeance, in all its shapes, seems to have been contemplated by this great moralist with the profoundest disapprobation; nor would he permit the most venerable of names to be perverted into a sanction for the meanest and most contemptible propensities incident to the nature of man. 'Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, that ye may be the sons of your Heavenly Father, who makes the sun to shine on the good and on the evil, and the rain to fall on the just and unjust.' How monstrous a calumny have not impostors dared to advance against the mild and gentle author of this just sentiment, and against the whole tenor of his doctrines and his life, overflowing with benevolence and forbearance and compassion!

Something won't forgive it all ~ 'Sense'

Mercy, mercy, looking for mercy...

Qui pardonne aisement invite a l'offenser.

She always had a way of finding such goodness in others. If someone hurt her, she'd say, 'Oh, Sheliah, I'm sure they didn't mean to.' She'd always make excuses for others. Sharon was just totally loving and also totally vulnerable. She was just a remarkable person, she never gave up on anybody.

Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries as much as you think they deserve.

Aime la verite, mais pardonne a l'erreur.

Qu'est-ce que la tolerance? c'est l'apanage de l'humanite. Nous sommes tous petris de faiblesses et d'erreurs; pardonnons-nous reciproquement nos sottises, c'est la premiere loi de la nature.