Forgiveness Quotes

• Forgiveness doesn't make the other person right, it makes you free.

  Stormie Omartian

  Love, Life, Family

  Stormie Omartian (2010). “Seven Prayers That Will Change Your Life Forever”, p.47, Thomas Nelson Inc

  71 Copy quote

  Show source

• I have discovered that most people who tell me that they cannot forgive a person who wronged them are handicapped by a mistaken understanding of what forgiving is.

  Lewis B. Smedes

  People, Understanding, Forgiving

  8 Copy quote

• Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free and realising you were the prisoner!

  Max Lucado

  Inspirational, Doors, Unlocking

  236 Copy quote
• 

  Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.

  Lewis B. Smedes

  Broken Heart, Heartbroken, Hope

  "Healing by Degrees" by Jean-Paul Bedard, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 1, 2014.

  107 Copy quote

  Show source

• Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.

  Corrie Ten Boom

  Keys, Doors, Hatred

  Corrie Ten Boom (1985). “Jesus is Victor”, Fleming H Revell Company

  270 Copy quote

  Show source

• Everyone says that forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Inspirational, Ideas, Lovely

  10 Copy quote

• Forgiveness does not mean that we suppress anger; forgiveness means that we have asked for a miracle: the ability to see through mistakes that someone has made to the truth that lies in all of our hearts. 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. Attack thoughts towards others are attack thoughts towards ourselves. The first step in forgiveness is the willingness to forgive.

  Marianne Williamson

  Mistake, Lying, Heart

  "Illuminata: Thoughts, Prayers, Rites of Passage". Book by Marianne Williamson, pp. 131-132, 2013.

  158 Copy quote

  Show source

• In the autumn I gathered all my sorrows and buried them in my garden. And when April returned and spring came to wed the earth, there grew in my garden beautiful flowers unlike all other flowers. And my neighbors came to behold them, and they all said to me, "When autumn comes again, at seeding time, will you not give us of the seeds of these flowers that we may have them in our gardens?"

  Khalil Gibran

  Beautiful, Spring, Flower

  10 Copy quote

• ...Forgiving is not having to understand. Understanding may come later, in fragments, an insight here and a glimpse there, after forgiving.

  Lewis B. Smedes

  Understanding, Forgiving, May

  14 Copy quote
• 

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

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Life, Strength

  Mahatma Gandhi (2005). “All Men Are Brothers”, p.166, A&C Black

  294 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.

  C. S. Lewis

  God, Christian, Religious

  208 Copy quote

• Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business.

  Lance Morrow

  Inspirational, Past, Forgiving

  19 Copy quote

• Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive.

  William P. Young

  Forgiving, Way, No Forgiveness

  "The Shack". Book by William P. Young, May, 2007.

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• To begin loving people today, we must close the door on the past. And that cannot happen without forgiveness! Forgive those who have hurt you - for your sake, not because they deserve it.

  Rick Warren

  Christian, Hurt, Past

  Rick Warren (2008). “God's Power to Change Your Life”, p.21, Zondervan

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

  Epictetus

  Spiritual, Wisdom, Philosophy

  179 Copy quote

• Vengeance is having a videotape planted in your soul that cannot be turned off. It plays the painful scene over and over again inside your mind...And each time it plays you feel the clap of pain again...Forgiving turns off the videotape of pained memory Forgiving sets you free.

  Lewis B. Smedes

  Pain, Memories, Play

  28 Copy quote

• We all agree that forgiveness is a beautiful idea until we have to practice it.

  C. S. Lewis

  Beautiful, Practice, Ideas

  100 Copy quote

• Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Wise, Giving Up, Past

  FaceBook post by Oprah Winfrey from Oct 29, 2011

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs.

  Charlotte Bronte

  Life, Hate, Anger

  Charlotte Bronte (2013). “Jane Eyre”, p.76, Simon and Schuster

  106 Copy quote

  Show source

• Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass.

  Confucius

  Relationship, Faith, Bridges

  58 Copy quote

• Strength of character means the ability to overcome resentment against others, to hide hurt feelings, and to forgive quickly.

  Lawrence G. Lovasik

  Inspirational, Strength, Hurt

  Lawrence G. Lovasik (1999). “The Hidden Power of Kindness: A Practical Handbook for Souls who Dare to Transform the World, One Deed at a Time”, p.85, Sophia Institute Press

  104 Copy quote

  Show source

• 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.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Relationship, Inspiring

  "Loving Your Enemies" by Martin Luther King, Jr., Christmas, 1957.

  68 Copy quote

  Show source

• In the presence of God, nothing stands between Him and us - we are forgiven. But we cannot feel His presence if anything is allowed to stand between ourselves and others.

  Dag Hammarskjold

  Feels, Presence Of God, Ifs

  11 Copy quote

• I firmly believe a great many prayers are not answered because we are not willing to forgive someone.

  Dwight L. Moody

  Death, Prayer, Children

  Dwight L Moody (1987). “Prevailing Prayer”, p.53, Moody Publishers

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• Forgiveness is primarily for our own sake, so that we no longer carry the burden of resentment. But to forgive does not mean we will allow injustice again.

  Jack Kornfield

  Mean, Justice, Forgiving

  10 Copy quote