c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
How can you love those who have stolen from you, assaulted or abused you, or tried to blow you up and completely destroy you? How can you forgive those who have kidnapped, tortured and killed someone you love? Yet this is where reconciliation has to begin.
— Andrew White, Father, Forgive: Reflections on Peacemaking
To clean our hearts from hatred,we have to forgive before forget & remember that our life is short.let's live in love & peace~~Abeer Almadawy
— عبير المعداوي, احضان الشوك
If we can't forget, how can we forgive? I believe that forgiving can't be done by willpower alone. I can will myself to write out my own memories and feelings. I can will myself to imagine onto the page how someone else may have felt. I can will myself to research someone else's life in order to better understand what happened. But I don't think I can forgive by simply willing to forgive. Forgiving happens to us when our hearts are ready. Sometimes it takes the form of working on our own story until quietly, often surprisingly, we simply let go of the hurt. Sometimes forgiving makes it possible to pick up the pieces of a broken relationship and begin again. Sometimes it means letting a relationship go. We can't forgive through willpower. What we can do is work toward readiness of heart. Writing as a spiritual practice can be that kind of work.When our heart is ready, we often don't even know it until forgiveness happens within us. It is a gift.
— Pat Schneider, How the Light Gets in: Writing as a Spiritual Practice
God forgives us, as—when—we forgive them who injure us—and ourselves. These last weeks I think I have understood what many times in the past I thought I knew—but we never know—we never reach the end of understanding—the understanding of God—the mystery of his love...
— Lucy Beckett, The Time Before You Die: A Novel of the Reformation
Sorry' is just a word… A word that acquires a little bit of strength when uttered by a heart, which believes in its power, but yours is silent.
— Irina Serban, Full Circle
I think sometimes when we grew up with a parent who is deeply flawed....we learn, subconsciously at least, to expect the worst from everyone else as well....Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way forever. We can learn to see with new eyes if we try.
— Mindy Starns Clark, The Amish Midwife
you must be careful with kindness. It's usually mistaken for weakness by stupid people.
— Clive Barker, Days of Magic, Nights of War
I will never forget what you did to me. I will never forgive it. I will never stop mourning what you stole from me. But I realize now I can't steal it back and I'm done spending every day trying to.
— Katja Millay, The Sea of Tranquility
One always begins to forgive a place as soon as it’s left behind.
— Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit
When you're lying in bed at night and regrets from the day come to steal your sleep... "I should have" "If only I'd" "I wish I'd"...grab one of them and turn it into an "I will" and sleep peacefully knowing tomorrow will be a better day.
— L.R. Knost
Live a life abundant in love and rich in spirit, these are the seeds of a fulfilling existence. Be the safe harbor you seek in the world. Follow your dreams, not your fear. Go into the New Year with an open mind and hopeful heart. Don't let the chains of unforgiveness weigh you down. Life is too short to live in a prison of past hurts. The futures is yours for the taking and creating. Life is bittersweet, when we can let darkness and light co-exist as illumination, we can live in true happiness. When we live life at its best, it is a symphony of feelings, of high and low notes, of tragedy and comedy, love and loss, magic and the sublime. It can be quite a spectacular journey when we fully embrace and accept it.
— Jaeda DeWalt
Forgiveness empties the past of its power to empty the present of its peace.
— L.R. Knost
When we have opened ourselves to give forgiveness or to accept forgiveness we have opened ourselves to touch the Divine.
— Genevieve Gerard
It is only when one knows the unutterability of the name of God that one can utter the name of Jesus Christ
—  it is only when one loves life and the earth so much that without them everything seems to be over that one may believe in the resurrection and a new world
I’m beginning to get the feeling that confession is what we need in order to forgive ourselves.
— Shane Kuhn, The Intern's Handbook
It was part of his nature to extenuate nothing and live on as one of his own worst accusers.
— Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge
Forgiveness is a choice. You control how you respond to something or someone. You can't change things that happened in the past, but you can decide how you let them affect you.
— Amalie Howard, Waterfell
Forgiveness, she was only required to accept the seed of healing, and to let it grow on its own time.
— H. L. Balcomb
Forgiveness is alchemy of the soul in which the feeling of possibility returns to the human spirit.
— Jake Ducey, Into the Wind: My Six-Month Journey Wandering the World for Life's Purpose
Support is not always easy to come by if you wait for the world to see your worth. Discover your own worth and the world will indeed follow your lead. Its the law of cause and effect! It has to happen. Support yourself.
— Sereda Aleta Dailey, Stress Relief for Your Body & Mind
In order to forgive, one must have lived through what I have lived through, and may God spare her that.
— Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Kill him with your blessings of healing.
— H. L. Balcomb
Rosalie had never been one to question or accuse, just to forgive -- but I guess everyone had their limits when it came to tolerance levels, and I’d crossed the line.
— Embee, Tess Embers
You stand alone upon a height," he said, dreamily, "like one in a dreary land. Behind you all is darkness, before you all is darkness; there is but one small space of light. In that one space is a day. They come, one at a time, from the night of To-morrow, and vanish into the night of Yesterday."I have thought of the days as men and women, for a woman's day is not at all like a man's. For you, I think, they first were children, with laughing eyes and little, dimpled hands. One at a time, they came out of the darkness, and disappeared into the darkness on the other side. Some brought you flowers or new toys and some brought you childish griefs, but none came empty-handed. Each day laid its gift at your feet and went on."Some brought their gifts wrapped up, that you might have the surprise of opening them. Many a gift in a bright-hued covering turned out to be far from what you expected when you were opening it. Some of the happiest gifts were hidden in dull coverings you took off slowly, dreading to see the contents. Some days brought many gifts, others only one."As the days grew older, some brought you laughter; some gave you light and love. Others came with music and pleasure--and some of them brought pain.""Yes," sighed Evelina, "some brought pain.""It is of that," went on the Piper, "that I wished to be speaking. It was one day, was it not, that brought you a long sorrow?""Yes.""Not more than one? Was it only one day?""Yes, only one day," "See," said The Piper, gently, "the day came with her gift. You would not let her lay it at your feet and pass on into the darkness of Yesterday. You held her by her grey garments and would not let her go. You kept searching her sad eyes to see whether she did not have further pain for you. Why keep her back from her appointed way? Why not let your days go by?""The other days," murmured Evelina, "have all been sad.""Yes, and why? You were holding fast to one day--the one that brought you pain. So, with downcast eyes they passed you, and carried their appointed gifts on into Yesterday, where you can never find them again. Even now, the one day you have been holding is struggling to free herself from the chains you have put upon her. You have no right to keep a day.""Should I not keep the gifts?" she asked. His fancy pleased her."The gifts, yes--even the gifts of tears, but never a day. You cannot hold a happy day, for it goes too quickly. This one sad day that marched so slowly by you is the one you chose to hold. Lady," he pleaded, "let her go!
— Myrtle Reed, A Spinner in the Sun
. . . it’s okay if we get mad at each other?”“Yeah, Buddy, it’s OK, as long as we don’t stay mad, and as long as we forgive each other when we mess up.”from upcoming book, "When I Am in Your Arms.
— Charlotte Snead
Forgiveness is a selfless gift of love to others.
— Joan Ambu
I was going to die.	I was going to die, right now, right here, before I even had a chance to thoroughly apologize to anyone for what I’d done...before I had a chance to forgive myself.	I wasn’t even going to leave with a bang, one final act of dignity or at least the thought that I still belonged somewhere; I would die without even the simple acceptance that I’d done everything I could.	Tears welled in my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall. I didn’t want to die crying.
— Embee, Tess Embers
God never tires of forgiving us
—  we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy.
Dear Forgiveness, you know that recentlywe have had our difficulties and there are many thingsI want to ask you.
— Richard Siken, Crush
Jesus taught us to pray, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" not forgive us and smite those bastards who hurt us.
— Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint
Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.
— Nelson Mandela
If I could forgive, it meant I was a strong good person who could take responsibility for the path I had chosen for myself, and all the consequences that accompanied that choice. And it gave me the simple but powerful satisfaction of extending a kindness to another person in a tough spot.
— Piper Kerman, Orange Is the New Black
You need to forgive people you don't understand; if not, try to understand people you want to forgive.
— Shannon L. Alder
Be happy by forgiving or forgetting or doing both, but we can gain no happiness by holding grudges.
— Dinesh Kumar Radhakrishnan
Forgiveness is mandatory
—  reconciliation is optional.
A man can forgive all manner of faults in beautiful women that in ugly men he find entirely beyond sufferance
— Joe Abercrombie, Best Served Cold
Don't focus on her hiss. Remember her purr.
— Donna Lynn Hope
It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel, so much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives. He cannot withstand the influence of habit and associations that surround him. Taught from earliest childhood, by all that he sees and hears that the rod is for the slave's back, he will not be apt to change his opinions in maturer years.
— Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave
It's the easiest thing in the world to be kind to someone, to show love, to forgive. You are born with this instinct - it should be your first reaction. NOT violence, anger and hatred! That is something we are taught, it's a Choice You Make.
— Michelle Horst, Wake Me Up
Life's too short not to forgive.
— Miranda Kenneally, Things I Can't Forget
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was yourself.
— Diane Moody, Tea with Emma
if the goddes can forgive her, can't we?""I think there's a big difference between forgiving her and makin her into something she wasn't just because she's dead
— P.C. Cast, Revealed
People are already disappointed by their acquaintances, they can not handle anymore hate from stranger, so show some instantaneous kindness and forgiveness to them.
— Amit Kalantri
Just remember, someday you might be asking for forgiveness. And if that day were to come, you would want it, wouldn’t you?
— Michele L. Rivera, Taking the Lead
If forgiveness is medicine for the soul, then gratitude is vitamins.
— Steve Maraboli
Asking forgiveness is not an admission of cowardice and of sin, It is to show that having inner peace is far more important than pride especially if they think that you have wronged them in any way.
— Sun Fire Elements
Whatever comes our way, whatever battle we have raging inside of us, we always have a choice. It is our choices that makes us who we are, and we always have a choice to do what's right ~ Let love and forgiveness reign.
— Spiderman 3
I believe what Jesus said was, 'I the Lord will forgive whom I will forgive. But of you it is required that you forgive all men.
— Orson Scott Card, Children of the Mind
Still there are some, braver and more valiant than their peers, who face their demons head on, staring defiantly into the shadows, demanding forgiveness.
— Rebecca Harris - Be The Death of Me
We may not have the power to move mountains, but if we have the power to take someone's hand and named them loved and forgiven we have power enough.
— Dianne Astle
The first time you tried to save people, you were certain of victory?""Yes. In my pride, I knew I could not fail.""Then, in your mind, you were risking nothing. Are you certain of victory tonight?"Roman stared into the darkness of the booth. "No, I am not.""Then why are you risking your life?"Tears filled his eyes. "I cannot bear for them to risk their own. I...love them."The priest took a deep breath. "Then you have your answer. You do this not out of pride, but out of love. And since love comes from the Father, He has not abandoned you."Roman scoffed."You do not understand the magnitude of my sins.""Perhaps you do not understand the magnitude of God's forgiveness.
— Kerrelyn Sparks, How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire
You ask me to forgive you? I’m thanking you. You finally loved me in that moment, and that love set me free, released me from my sworn duty.
— Leland Dirks, Seven Dogs in Heaven
All beings are vast multidimensional masters. They may be exploring divinity or limitation, but they are masters nonetheless. Then it becomes ok to simply allow them their process.
— Ariel Tachi-ren
We watched, and he taught us like he did every day we were with him. He showed us how to forgive.
— Rob Buyea, Because of Mr. Terupt
... I have dreams of you too, Mariam jo. I miss you. I miss the sound of your voice, your laughter. I miss reading to you, and all those times we fished together. Do you remember all those times we fished together? You were a good daughter, Mariam jo, and I cannot ever think of you without feeling shame and regret. Regret… When it comes to you, Mariam jo, I have oceans of it. I regret that I did not see you the day you came to Herat. I regret that I did not open the door and take you in. I regret that I did not make you a daughter to me, that I let you live in that place for all those years. And for what? Fear of losing face? Of staining my so-called good name? How little those things matter to me now after all the loss, all the terrible things I have seen in this cursed war. But now, of course, it is too late. Perhaps that is just punishment for those who have been heartless, to understand only when nothing can be undone. Now all I can do is say that you were a good daughter, Mariam jo, and that I never deserved you. Now all I can do is ask for your forgiveness. So forgive me, Mariam jo. Forgive me, forgive me. Forgive me...
— Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns
A grateful mind by owing owes not, but still pays, at once indebted and discharged; what burden then?
— John Milton, Paradise Lost
Happiness is spiritual, born of truth and love.
— Mary Baker Eddy
There’s a small window of opportunity to apologize sometimes after you’ve terribly wronged someone. It closes. Sometimes forever, but it never opens wide enough again for a good breeze.
— Darnell Lamont Walker
Trauma can have a masking effect.
— Asa Don Brown, The effects of childhood trauma on adult perception and worldview
He was gone, and I did not have time to tell him what I had just now realized: that I forgave him, and that she forgave us, and that we had to forgive to survive in the labyrinth. There were so many of us who would have to live with things done and things left undone that day. Things that did not go right, things that seemed okay at the time because we could not see the future. If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions. But we can’t know better until knowing better is useless.
— John Green, Looking for Alaska
Religion is spelled 'D-O', because it consists of the things people do try to somehow gain God's forgiveness and favor. But the problem is that you never know when you've done enough. But thankfully, Christianity is spelled differently. It's spelled 'D-O-N-E', which means that what we could never for ourselves, Christ has already done for us. To become a real Christian is to humbly receive God's gift of forgiveness and to commit to following His leadership.
— Bill Hybels, Becoming a Contagious Christian
It is easy to say the word forgiveness but the challenge is to live the word forgiveness.
— Karen Todd Scarpulla, Walking Toward the Light: A Journey in Forgiveness and Death
Vengeance and forgiveness are about reconciling the accounts, but accounting is an ugly description of the tangled ways we're connected. I sometimes think everything comes out even in the end, but an end that arches beyond the horizon, beyond our capacity to perceive or measure, and that in many cases those who trespass against you do so out of a misery that means the punishment preceded and even precipitated the crime. Maybe that's acceptance.
— Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby
No one should have to go through life without forgiveness. It's essential
— C. Kennedy Omorphi
A long held belief based on a perceived reality that is rooted in a diminishing view of yourself or others probably is not serving you.Today is a good day to let go of one of them.Today is a great day to let go of one of them-if it's a secret grudge you've been harboringfor years.Particularly if that person is YOU.
— Dave Rudbarg
The hurt, resentment, the revenge, the pride, and regret are thrown hard and fast like snowballs in the winter. Some major ones hit hard; some minor ones just roll off, while others stick for an elongated time…as long as we stay in the cold frosty air of not letting go.
— Wes Adamson
With self-acceptance, we have the ability to choose compassion and forgiveness over anger and self-hatred.
— Michelle Cruz-Rosado
But the true miracle of the resurrection wasn't so much the raising. Is something like that too hard for the God who made the universe? The true miracle is in the forgiving. And though we are bruised and burned, blind and broken, we are forgiven.
— Lisa Samson, Embrace Me
We forgive only that which requires forgiveness. To do otherwise is wasteful of grace.” -- Laniel, Abbot of Bilkar the Furred
— Jordan MacLean, Guardian Last
I decide to put love in everything I do from this day forward. With every fold of laundry, every push of the grocery cart, every stir of a pot, and every word spoken, I will emanate love.
— Karen Todd Scarpulla, Walking Toward the Light: A Journey in Forgiveness and Death
If forgiveness, kindness and humanity could have changed something; today we would have been living a peaceful world.
— M.F. Moonzajer
Forgiveness is a process that we have to learn to act upon daily. Anger is weakened by forgiveness. When you forgive, you free yourself from carrying around the torment that the offense has caused you.
— E'yen A. Gardner, Detox 21: 21 day cleansing of the soul
Anger keeps us down and hinders us from moving forward. Its power is strengthened by our longing for justice.
— E'yen A. Gardner, Detox 21: 21 day cleansing of the soul
This doctrine of forgiveness of sin is a premium on crime. 'Forgive us our sins' means "Let us continue in our iniquity." It is one of the most pernicious of doctrines, and one of the most fruitful sources of immorality. It has been the chief cause of making Christian nations the most immoral of nations. In teaching this doctrine Christ committed a sin for which his death did not atone, and which can never be forgiven. There is no forgiveness of sin. Every cause has its effect; every sinner must suffer the consequences of his sins.
— John E. Remsburg, The Christ
Revenge is like waves hitting the beach, the water is drawn in and sucked back into yet another wave, pounding and smashing its shoreline!
— Wes Adamson
Often what prevents us from seeing beauty in the outside world is the fact that we fail to see beauty in ourselves and other people. Forgiveness is the key that can unlock this door for us.
— Anthony J. Ciorra, Beauty: A Path to God
God may forgive you if He chooses, but not I. Au revoir.
— Lee Smith, On Agate Hill
I shall never find nor seek forgiveness, especially after such an action!
— Ariana Pedigo, Little Man
I just thought I was empty and now I'm being filled...and I just wanted to keep being filled.
— Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
As long as we share our stories, as long as our stories reveal our strengths and vulnerabilities to each other, we reinvigorte our understanding and tolerance for the little quirks of personality that in other circumstances would drive us apart. When we live in a family, a community, a country where we know each other's true stories, we remember our capacity to lean in and love each other into wholeness. I have read the story of a tribe in southern Africa called the Babemba in which a person doing something wrong, something that destroys this delicate social net, brings all work in the village to a halt. The people gather around the "offender," and one by one they begin to recite everything he has done right in his life: every good deed, thoughtful behavior, act of social responsibility. These things have to be true about the person, and spoken honestly, but the time-honored consequence of misbehavior is to appreciate that person back into the better part of himself. The person is given the chance to remember who he is and why he is important to the life of the vi
— Christina Baldwin, Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story
Living in love, gratitude and forgiveness, is peaceful and spiritually rejuvenating. Living under the emotional constraints of anger and resentment is draining and toxic to heart and soul. It can be difficult to let go of past hurts, but it can also be freeing and uplifting. More and more, i choose to live in love, gratitude and forgiveness.
— Jaeda DeWalt
People that hurt others, only act on a pain they feel themselves.
— Vivian Amis
Forgive and forget is the divine ideal. Grappling with the hurt while biting your tongue and struggling to refuse justifiable vengeance―that's closer to human reality.
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway
Today's marriages become toxic, with resentments, after only a few years. It's one thing to say, 'I forgive,' but most lack the enterprise to do the necessary work that follows. It was the day after that proved who had the wisdom of God and who didn't.pg 46
— Michael Ben Zehabe, Song of Songs The Book for Daughters
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. God bless those who see beyond our flaws painted in bold strokes.
— Nike Thaddeus
God has given you grace. Maybe you should give yourself some too.
— Todd Stocker, Refined: Turning Pain Into Purpose
Abraham had eight sons--not one. All eight sons bring something to the table. Abraham loved all of his sons. He was a good father who made sure all his sons were literate, of good character and shared a common ideology with their father, Abraham. Abraham did good. Where did we go wrong?pg 54
— Michael Ben Zehabe, Song of Songs The Book for Daughters
While we are all in the process of becoming as ever-changing, ever-evolving beings... it's essential to remember that we are also enough, just as we are, right now, in this moment. When we are able to accept ourselves as we are, we are better able to accept others, as they are. Personal growth thrives in an environment of love, acceptance and forgiveness.
— Jaeda DeWalt
Every friend, every neighbor, and every family member wishes that you retain your golden heart. No one wants to see your love sullied. Yet, they all know a dark circumstance will find you eventually. Know this: You are being hunted--like game. Life will knock you down with some unexpected misfortune. Resolve now, to help your partner get back up. Only a determined family kills its wounded. When everyone else abandons him, come back for your husband.pg 55
— Michael Ben Zehabe, Song of Songs The Book for Daughters
Too many disciples neglect their thorn-like qualities. For instance: Opting for singleness doesn't count if you can't attract a mate. Patience doesn't count if you are too cowardly to defend what is right. Forgiveness doesn't count if the offender never respected you enough to ask for it. Don't label your character flaws as noble sacrifices.pg 47
— Michael Ben Zehabe, Song of Songs The Book for Daughters
There is a payoff for examining the divine author's literary style. It will tell you something about Him. Whereas, Jonah's actions are extensively described and laboriously detailed, God's reactions (although miraculous) are only described in sparse, minimalist terms.God seems much more amused by Jonah than Jonah is with God. Every miracle is directed at Jonah. Yet, very little copy is used to described God's miracles. Although God's miracles are much more astonishing than Jonah's immature fits of rebellion, more copy is dedicated to Jonah.
— Michael Ben Zehabe, A Commentary on Jonah
I had thought about forgiveness more and more...I knew it wasn't a light that could be switched on in an instant-it grew day by day, week by week, month by month-but something was changing inside me now during the hours when I sat alone and tried to calm my feelings. A seed had been sown, and I sensed that, just as I'd once faced a choice about whether to use violence on the night when I stared at the gun, I know had another choice: to remain trapped in the bitterness of the past or to find peace in the present.
— Emmanuel Jal, War Child: A Child Soldier's Story
I think you're under no obligation whatsoever to forgive anything, to forget anything. You're not required to push away the years of abuse because the abuser now chooses to be sober and in his sobriety regrets his actions. And white may be small and unforgiving of me, I think people who do so at the snap of a dam finger are either liars or are in need of serious therapy. I assume you heard him out, so in my personal opinion, any debt you might owe for your existence is now paid in full. It may be fashionable to hold that terrible actions are indeed terrible, but that hte person inflicting them isn't responbile due to alcohol, drugs, DNA, or GD PMS. He damn well was responsible, and if you decided to loathe him for the rest of your life, I wouldn't blame you for it. How's that?" (Cybil to Gage - she ROCKS)
— Nora Roberts, The Pagan Stone
Forgiveness is no easy task
—  it takes a lifetime of remembering to move on
Hyacinth. Please forgive me.
— Vanessa Diffenbaugh, The Language of Flowers
We can only forgive the world to the extent that we forgive ourselves for being in it.
— Eric Micha'el Leventhal
The Bishop blessed him and helped him to his feet."May God have mercy on you," he said. And erased him from his heart.
— Gabriel García Márquez, Of Love and Other Demons
Unless death is made a lesson for the living, the life lived is wasted.Why should life come into existence only to be destroyed? One dies and another is born—for what? A few miserable hours of life—then oblivion!With this recognition of the finality of death, no one should willingly withhold acts that would bring benefits, joy or happiness to others. In death, the hesitant act can no longer be performed—the word of praise is as impossible as yesterday's return.What perversity justified inflicting pain, suffering and death upon others who have done no wrong? If death ends all, why fight while we are living? Why shorten life with unnecessary pain and suffering? How futile are the petty problems of individuals, with their hates and jealousies, when all vanish with death? All the prayers in the world cannot wipe out one injustice.Every wrong is irreparable.The dead cannot forgive.All the tears and sighs are of no avail.Forgiveness cannot be granted when lips cannot move.Praise cannot be heard when ears cannot hear; joy cannot be experienced when the heart no longer beats; and the happiness of an affectionate embrace can no longer be felt when arms are limp and the eyes are forever closed.
— Joseph Lewis, An Atheist Manifesto
One great help here - and I make no claim that it is the only help or even a necessary condition for forgiveness - is sincere repentance on the part of the wrongdoer. When I am wronged by another, a great part of the injury - over and above any physical harm I may suffer - is the insulting or degrading message that has been given to me by the wrongdoer: the message that I am less worthy than he is, so unworthy that he may use me merely as a means or object in service to his desires and projects. Thus failing to resent(or hastily forgiving) the wrongdoer runs the risk that I am endorsing that very immoral message for which the wrongdoer stands. If the wrongdoer sincerely repents, however, he now joins me in repundiating the degrading and insulting message - allowing me to relate to him (his new self) as an equal without fear that a failure to resent him will be read as a failure to resent what he hs done.
— Jeffrie G. Murphy, Getting Even: Forgiveness and Its Limits
It is not unreasonable to want repentance from a wrongdoer before forgiving that wrongdoer, since, in the absence of repentance, hasty forgiveness may harm both the forgiver and the wrongdoer. The forgiver may be harmed by a failure to show self-respect. The wrongdoer may be harmed by being deprived of an important incentive - the desire to be forgiven - that could move him toward repentance and moral rebirth.
— Jeffrie G. Murphy, Getting Even: Forgiveness and Its Limits
Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves to release us from the shackles of our past. The pain of those who wounded us may linger but it needn't overshadow our happiness.
— Jaeda DeWalt
It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.
— Anonymous
Don't miss a chance at happiness because of your past misery.
— Dustin Cruz
In the photograph by my bed my other is perpetually smiling on me. I guess I have forgiven us both, although sometimes in the night my dreams will take me back to the sadness, and I have to wake up and forgive us again.
— Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees
How can a God who said, “Love your enemies” spend so much time killing His own?
— D.R. Silva
Kindness: a waltz with forgiveness and hope.
— Soul Dancer, Pay Me What I'm Worth
Life is a whirlwind of many opportunities. Choose to embrace all of them in deepest gratitude. Learn to forgive yourself and honour the heart that beats within you, as well as the head that rests on your shoulders. Learn how to believe in people again and not be judging or cynical to various beliefs.We are all of one light on this one Earth, and loving humanity makes all the difference.
— Michelle Cruz-Rosado
One should forgive one's enemies, but not before they are hanged.
— Heinrich Heine
I know that in the end, God will forgive me. He will forgive your father, me, and you too. I hope you can do the same. Forgive your father if you can. Forgive me if you wish. But most important, forgive yourself.
— Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
achieving true sobriety goes beyond abstinence. it's also about healing your soul, apologizing for damage you did to other, and seeking forgiveness.
— Lou Gramm, Juke Box Hero: My Five Decades in Rock 'n' Roll
To love those who love us and are good to us is easy. To love those who are indifferent to us is workable, but to love those who have harmed us, intentionally or not, is true growth and realization.
— Patsie Smith, Awaken Our Spirit Within: A Journey of Self-Realization and Transformation
Go to church to learn about forgiveness; come back to become a forgiver! Go to church and learn about kindness; come back to become a kind person! If things go like that, you will be a true image of Christ after going to church only 10 times on 10 Sundays!
— Israelmore Ayivor
To me, my Christian faith is all about being held, comforted, forgiven, strengthened, and loved--yet somehow that message gets lost on most of us, and we tend only to remember the religious nutters or the God of endless school assemblies. This is no one's fault, it is just life. Our job is to stay open and gentle, so we can hear the knocking on the door of our heart when it comes. The irony is that I never meet anyone who doesn't want to be loved or held or forgiven. Yet I meet a lot of folk who hate religion. And I so sympathize. But so did Jesus. In fact, He didn't just sympathize, He went much further. It seems more like this Jesus came to destroy religion and to bring life.
— Bear Grylls, Mud, Sweat and Tears
You may not be able to do anything about how you feel
—  but you can do something about how you act. People will definitely offend you willing or unwilling by their words and actions...but you can choose to let that offence sink you down or not....
Pride and ego makes a mockery of an apology. Humility wins forgiveness without question...so break 'yo'self'!
— T.F. Hodge, From Within I Rise: Spiritual Triumph Over Death and Conscious Encounters with "The Divine Presence"
And without forgiveness, there is never any peace.
— Rachel Caine, Lord of Misrule
The well from which we draw our love to give to other people, should never be only as deep as the well wherein resides the love we have already received in our lives. The cycle must be broken. The former well must be abandoned and we must create a love in our hearts for others, from the bricks and the mortar of our own visions. Our raw materials must come not only from what we received; but our raw materials must come from what we envision to create. From your desires and your visions— your bricks and mortar should materialize. And if your former well is completely empty and dry— so what— you don't owe it to your past, to the people who hurt you, to make that emptiness and that void, your place for drawing water from!
— C. JoyBell C.
Forgiveness is not turning the other cheek. Forgiveness is not running away. Forgiveness does not mean that you condone what the person has done, nor does it mean that you invite them to do it again. It doesn't mean that you forget the offense, nor does it mean that by forgiving you tacitly invite bad things to happen again. It doesn't mean that you won't defend yourself.
— Edward M. Hallowell, Dare to Forgive: The Power of Letting Go & Moving on
The worst tragedy of sin isn't that it produced bad behavior, but that it produced the idea that bad behavior is strong enough to deflect love.
— D.R. Silva
God is forgiving or we would not still be walking this world. But to be moral is not to need his divine forgiveness, I think.
— Rachel Caine, Lord of Misrule
I hear the word in the hallover and over again.Suicide.Suicide.Suicide.Did he or didn’t he?Everyone’s got a guess.Still no one knows for sure, except Gabe, but he’s not talking. Why does it even matter? He’s gone. His, ours, theirs— blame needs a place. His, ours, theirs— pain all over the place. His, ours, theirs— forgiveness missing from this place.
— Lisa Schroeder, Chasing Brooklyn
Forgiveness of sins is great, but I'd rather have the ability to quit doing the things I keep needing forgiveness for.
— D.R. Silva, It's All About Jesus: What They Never Told You in Church
There are things without explanation, moments when life will become arranged in such odd ways that you imagine a whole vocabulary of meaning inside them. The breakfast smell struck me like that.
— Sue Monk Kidd, The Mermaid Chair
There’s a correlation between the number of digits on a man’s bank balance, and, the number of things that his woman is willing to forgive him for.
— Mokokoma Mokhonoana
... Papa's always had the ability to remember the good things and let the bad ones go." "Not a bad ability.""... I'm not sure. I think we have to remember it all before we can forgive it.
— Madeleine L'Engle, Certain Women
On Jesus' rock, my life abounds; all other floors are slippery grounds. His love for me, is mercy band; any other love is sinking sand.
— Israelmore Ayivor
So I left words of forgiveness to God and liars and I enjoyed my hatred.
— Jennifer Mardoll
People always want the bad guy to pay for his sin, until they're him.
— D.R. Silva
That's the unforgivable sin, you know.""What is?""Refusing to forgive someone.""Refusing to forgive someone is the unforgivable sin?" I asked incredulously.
— Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Alice In-Between
Deep down inside, each of us knows what our truths are. It is forgivable to lose them...It is unforgivable not to reclaim them.
— Holli Kenley, Mountain Air: Relapsing and Finding the Way Back... One Breath at a Time
Is God-like forgiveness humanly possible? Yes, if it remains God’s work! Forgiveness is not something we can accomplish on our own or within our own power (no more than we make the kingdom of God happen in the world). It’s not something we conjure up. If forgiveness flows out of us to others, it is because God is doing it and not us ourselves.
— Ronnie McBrayer, How Far Is Heaven?: Rediscovering the Kingdom of God in the Here and Now
I don't want you to feel sorry for me. I want you to forgive yourself for being human, just like you would forgive anyone else.
— Brenda Hodnett, Sara in the Army
Forgiveness is beautiful and it feels good when someone gives that gift to you. But it’s one thing for someone you wronged to forgive you. It was another to forgive yourself.
— Kristen Ashley, Fire Inside
Love, the simplest, strongest, and most unforgiving of all emotions.
— Stephen King, Needful Things
You are helpful, and you are loved, and you are forgiven, and you are not alone.
— John Green
I'm just saying love has a lot to do with the power of forgiveness.
— Sawyer Bennett, Off the Record
You can’t get back the time in the past. You can’t change it. You can only make sure to learn and move forward.
— J.B. McGee, Forgiven
But if you seek forgiveness, doesn't that automatically mean you cannot be a monster? By definition, doesn't that desperation make you human again?
— Jodi Picoult, The Storyteller
You know, Sage, Jesus didn't tell us to forgive everyone. He said turn the other cheek, but only if you the one who was hit. Even the Lord's Prayer says it loud and clear: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Not others. What Jesus challenges us to do is to let go of the wrong done to you personally, not the wrong done to someone else. But most Christians incorrectly assume that this means that being a good christian means forgiving all sins, and the sinners.
— Jodi Picoult, The Storyteller
Being nice to someone who did you foul in the past is kinda like a mature way of getting revenge because it sometimes confuses the hell out of them & brings them to the realization that they no longer can manipulate your emotions with their actions...something they thought they'd always be able to do.
— David Reeves
One deep breath, one last step and out into oblivion where death held out its arms into a welcoming embrace.
— Stephen   Craig, The Last Step
But with her eyes closed, she began to whisper. “If you have someone to love, then love. If you have someone to forgive, then forgive. You think, when you’re seventeen, there’s time enough for that, but there’s not. There’s no time at all.”I squeezed her hand, trying to think of how to respond. But she took the burden from me and kept whispering. “You want to know why God gave us people to love? Because that’s the only way we can understand how he feels about us. Desperate and jealous.
— Laura Anderson Kurk, Perfect Glass
Sweet Evelyn, I think, I should have loved you better.Possessing perfect knowledge I hover above him as he hacks me to bits. I see his rough childhood. I see his mother doing something horrid to him with a broomstick. I see the hate in his heart and the people he had yet to kill before pneumonia gets him at eighty-three. I see the dead kid's mom unable to sleep, pounding her fists against her face in grief at the moment I was burying her son's hand. I see the pain I've caused. I see the man I could have been, and the man I was, and then everything is bright and new and keen with love and I sweep through Sam's body, trying to change him, trying so hard, and feeling only hate and hate, solid as stone.
— George Saunders, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
Love is a Dance set on the stage of Forgiveness and Grace.
— Todd Stocker, Refined: Turning Pain Into Purpose
I was taught that you can’t expect to be forgiven when you continuously commit the same sin over and over again.
— J.B. McGee, Forgiven
None of us deserve the good things that come our way. It's by grace, love and forgiveness that any of us experience joy.
— J.B. McGee, Forgiven
These two poles, the unconditional and the conditional, are absolutely heterogeneous, and must remain irreducible to one another. They are nonetheless indissociable: if one wants, and it is necessary, forgiveness to become effective, concrete, historic; if one wants it to arrive, to happen by changing things, it is necessary that this purity engage itself in a series of conditions of all kinds (psychosociological, political, etc.). It is between these two poles, irreconcilable but indissociable, that decisions and responsibilities are to be taken. Yet despite all the confusions which reduce forgiveness to amnesty or to amnesia, to acquittal or prescription, to the work of mourning or some political therapy of reconciliation, in short to some historical ecology, it must never be forgotten, nevertheless, that all of that refers to a certain idea of pure and unconditional forgiveness, without which this discourse would not have the least meaning. What complicates the question of ‘meaning’ is again what I suggested a moment ago: pure and unconditional forgiveness, in order to have its own meaning, must have no ‘meaning’, no finality, even no intelligibility. It is a madness of the impossible.
— Jacques Derrida, On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness
The one who realizes the mistake, seeks forgiveness and searches for kindness, must be forgiven.
— M.F. Moonzajer
I remain ‘torn’ (between a ‘hyberbolic’ ethical vision of forgiveness, pure forgiveness, and the reality of a society at work in pragmatic processes of reconciliation). But without power, desire, or need to decide. The two poles are irreducible to one another, certainly, but they remain indissociable. In order to inflect politics, or what you just called the ‘pragmatic processes’, in order to change the law (which, thus, finds itself between the two poles, the ‘ideal’ and the ‘empirical’ – and what is more important to me here is, between these two, this universalising mediation, this history of the law, the possibility of this progress of the law), it is necessary to refer to a ‘“hyperbolic” ethical vision of forgiveness’. Even if I were not sure of the words ‘vision’ or ‘ethics’ in this case, let us say that only this inflexible exigence can orient a history of laws, and evolution of the law. It alone can inspire here, now, in the urgency, without waiting, response and responsibilities.
— Jacques Derrida, On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness
...and that we had to forgive to survive in the labyrinth.
— John Green, Looking for Alaska
A real man does not beg forgiveness but earn it.
— M.F. Moonzajer
To forgive a friend, one must practice generosity. To forgive an enemy, one must practice empathy. To forgive yourself requires charity. Forgiveness is a sacred act of gallantry.
— Mac MacKenzie
Forgiveness in no way requires you to trust the one you forgive. It doesn't mean the relationship must be restored. p. 61
— Roberta Fish, Ministering Hope to the Hurting Heart
Forgiveness: best for cleansing. Forgetfulness best for repetition.
— Soul Dancer
We don't think of ourselves as 'unforgiving' or 'bitter'- those words imply that we are somehow personally responsible. We prefer to talk about how deeply we have been 'hurt', implying that we are merely helpless victims. Are those who have been deeply wounded destined to live damaged lives? Or is there real healing for deep hurt? I say there is. . . .We've also deceived ourselves into believing that we can love and serve God and be 'good Christians,' while failing to forgive. When are we going to get honest?
— Byron Paulus
The difference between black and white is Grace!" EL
— Evinda Lepins, Back to Single
God’s forgiveness doesn’t come cheaply, nor is it a ticket to do what we jolly well please because there’s a get out of jail free card at the end. Instead, it is the life-changing embrace of love that welcomes us when we’ve no reason to expect it. We cannot fail deeply enough for God to give us up.
— Peggy Haymes, Strugglers, Stragglers and Seekers: daily devotions for the rest of us
In every sufferings you've encountered, there will be an opportunity to settle things in a right place. If that comes, grab it. Learn to forgive.
— Mahadena Madid
What he did was wrong. He doesn't deserve your love. But he does deserve your forgiveness, because otherwise he will grow like a weed in your heart until it's choked and overrun. The only person who suffers, when you squirrel away all that hate, is you.
— Jodi Picoult, The Storyteller
We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present speaker's, and even with laughter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ: if we have repented these early sins we should remember the price of our forgiveness and be humble.
— C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
We say of some things that they can't be forgiven, or that we will never forgive ourselves. But we do--we do it all the time.
— Alice Munro, Dear Life: Stories
Here’s a question every angry man and woman needs to consider: How long are you going to allow people you don’t even like — people who are no longer in your life, maybe even people who aren’t even alive anymore — to control your life? How long?
— Andy Stanley, Enemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the Four Emotions That Control You
Dogs, for a reason that can only be described as divine, have the ability to forgive, let go of the past, and live each day joyously. It’s something the rest of us strive for.
— Jennifer Skiff, The Divinity of Dogs: True Stories of Miracles Inspired by Man's Best Friend
Cultivo una rosa blanca,En julio como en enero,Para el amigo sinceroQue me da su mano franca.Y para el cruel que me arrancaEl corazon con que vivo,Cardo ni oruga cultivoCultivo una rosa blanca.I have a white rose to tendIn July as in January;I give it to the true friendWho offers his frank hand to me.And to the cruel one whose blowsBreak the heart by which I live,Thistle nor thorn do I give:For him, too, I have a white rose.
— José Martí, Versos Sencillos: Simple Verses
Forgiveness makes you feel better. As soon as you forgive, you're free.
— Karen Kingsbury, The Chance
Love moves in sync with the cadence of forgiveness, sings in tune with the melody of acceptance, and dances in rhythm with the music of companionship.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Never lose Faith. Always have hope. Love for always.
— J.B. McGee, Forgiven
Katherine is the master of anger; she dominates anger. She takes anger in her hands and twists its neck, ripping its head off. She throws anger against the wall and stomps it to death. Her voice rises, it changes, it conjures up ghosts and cusses in a spitting Irish brogue. Then, when she's tapped out empty, she picked anger up between her a thumb and a forefinger and carries it outside and drops it in the trash. On her way back, she scoops up forgiveness like a bouquet, sniffs it deep and arranges it in a vase. She sets forgiveness down, shining in the middle of everything.
— Colleen Clayton, What Happens Next
Inevitable is not the same as immediate, Sieh--and love does not mandate forgiveness.
— N.K. Jemisin, The Kingdom of Gods
Because I have forgiven my past, and God has forgiven my past, no person on earth can make me denounce my past. It's what made me who I am today.
— Julie-Anne