c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
Instead of negotiating or begging for mercy, [my brother Damascene] challenged them to kill him. "Go ahead," he said. "What are you waiting for? Today is my day to go to God. I can feel Him all around us. He is watching, waiting to take me home. Go ahead--finish your work and send me to paradise. I pity you for killing people like it's some kind of child's game. Murder is no game: If you offend God, you will pay for your fun. The blood of the innocent people you cut down will follow you to your reckoning. But I am praying for you. . . I pray that you see the evil you're doing and ask God's forgiveness before it's too late.
— Immaculée Ilibagiza, Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
As I helped him up, I felt him shake all over, so I asked him to forgive me, without knowing what for, but that was my lot, asking forgiveness, I even asked forgiveness of myself for being what I was, what it was my nature to be.
— Bohumil Hrabal, Too Loud a Solitude
Forgiveness is not about forgetting, Mack. It is about letting go of another person's throat.
— William Paul Young, The Shack
Great feuds often need very few words to resolve them. Disputes, even between nations, between peoples, can be set to rest with simple acts of contrition and corresponding forgiveness, can so often be shown to be based on nothing much other than pride and misunderstanding, and the forgetting of the humanity of the other—and land, of course.
— Alexander McCall Smith, The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
It is a happy thing that time quells the longings of vengeance and hushes the promptings of rage and aversion. I had left this woman in bitterness and hate, and I came back to her now with no other emotion than a sort of ruth for her great sufferings, and strong yearning to forget and forgive all injuries - to be reconciled and clasp hands in amity.
— Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
All men have parties and are pals who never let each other down. A pal can say terrible things which are forgotten the next day. A pal never forgives, he just forgets, and a woman forgives but never forgets. That's how it is. That's why women aren't allowed to have parties. Being forgiven is very unpleasant.
— Tove Jansson, A Winter Book
Most importantly, love each other deeply, because love cause many sins to be forgiven. - 1 Peter 4:8
— Anonymous, The Answer: Authentic Faith for an Uncertain World
My brother asked the birds to forgive him: that sounds senseless, but it is right; for all is like an ocean, all is flowing and blending; a touch in one place sets up movement at the other end of the earth. It may be senseless to beg forgiveness of the birds, but birds would be happier at your side –a little happier, anyway– and children and all animals, if you yourself were nobler than you are now. It’s all like an ocean, I tell you. Then you would pray to the birds too, consumed by an all-embracing love in a sort of transport, and pray that they too will forgive you your sin.
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
My job isn't to go around judging people. Priests are meant to teach love and forgiveness. That to me is the essence of being a Christian. And trying to find that love and forgiveness in ourselves and others every day should be a challenge that we want to achieve.
— Rosamund Lupton, Sister
The ultimate form of forgiveness is in comprehending there’s nothing to forgive.
— Roy  Bennett
Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community ofhumans even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners. But no onecan be in the presence of the God of the crucified Messiah for long withoutovercoming this double exclusion — without transposing the enemy from thesphere of the monstrous… into the sphere of shared humanity and herself fromthe sphere of proud innocence into the sphere of common sinfulness. Whenone knows [as the cross demonstrates] that the torturer will not eternallytriumph over the victim, one is free to rediscover that person’s humanity andimitate God’s love for him. And when one knows [as the cross demonstrates]that God’s love is greater than all sin, one is free to see oneself in the light ofGod’s justice and so rediscover one’s own sinfulness.
— Miroslav Volf
Now here's a good one:you're lying on your deathbed.You have one hour to live.Who is it, exactly, you have neededall these years to forgive?
— Louise Penny, A Fatal Grace
We live on because we can love, and we love because we can forgive.
— Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram
Few suffer more than those who refuse to forgive themselves.
— Mike  Norton, Fighting For Redemption
And what of regrets? I shall live with them. I shall accept my regrets as part of my life, to be numbered among my self-inflicted wounds. But I will not endlessly gaze at them. I shall allow the memories to prod me into doing better with those still living. And I shall allow them to sharpen the vision and intensify the hope for that Great Day coming when we can all throw ourselves into each other's arms and say, "I'm sorry.
— Nicholas Wolterstorff, Lament for a Son
I feel so sorry that many Christians live in bondage even though Jesus has signed their release form with His own blood.
— Brother Yun, The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun
Don't wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving
—  you will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made.
At the time, I didn't know what forgiveness meant. I wouldn't really know what forgiveness meant for another year, until my pastor, Rick McKinley, happened to spell it out in a sermon. He said that when you forgive, you bear the burden somebody has given you without holding them accountable.
— Donald Miller, To Own a Dragon: Reflections on Growing Up Without a Father
Forgiveness spares the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.
— Hannah More
Forgiving is easier when we understand that forgiving someone else means that we are freeing ourselves of an unnecessary burden.
— Donna Goddard, The Love of Being Loving
I am beginning to think there are two kinds of people," she said. I waited. "Those who forgive themselves too easily but will not forgive others." "And?" I asked. "Those that forgive others too easily but will not forgive themselves.
— Deb Caletti, Stay
Don't we all deserve forgiveness? I hope we do; I believe we do. Forgiveness says as much about the character of the person bestowing it as the person receiving it. Learning to forgive may be the most difficult of human acts,and the closest thing to divinity, whatever you decide that is.
— Justin Cronin
A little hatred goes a long, long way. It grows and grows. And it’s hungry. You keep feeding it more and more people, and the more it gets, the more it wants. It’s never satisfied. And pretty soon it squeezes all the love out of your heart and all you’ll have left is a hateful heart.
— Jerry Spinelli, Love, Stargirl
We deliberately forget because forgetting is a blessing. On both an emotional level and a spiritual level, forgetting is a natural part of the human experience and a natural function of the human brain. It is a feature, not a bug, one that saves us from being owned by our memories. Can a world that never forgets be a world that truly forgives?
— Tim Challies, The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion
There was something about total loyalty, uncritical devotion, endless patience, perpetual forgiveness and the general inability to believe that a loved one could ever do anything wrong that, frankly, just gave him the creeps.
— Joanne Harris, Runelight
To progress is always to begin always to begin again
— Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans
Mother, you can still hold hold on but forgive, forgive and give for long as long as we both shall live, I forgive you, Mother.
— Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible
Never REJECT yourself due to the sins you have committed. REGRET will do nothing
—  REPENT and do something!
Now we come to forgiveness. Don't worry about forgiving me right now. There are more important things. For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe. Don't let them suffer too much. If they have to die, let it be fast. You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves.
— Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
Mistakes are your school of learning therefore forgiveness is your greatest teacher in this school of learning.
— Stephen Richards, Forgiveness and Love Conquers All: Healing the Emotional Self
Forgiveness is a promise not a feeling. When you forgive other people, you are making a promise not to use their past sin against them.
— Brett
Forgiveness means letting go of the past.
— Gerald G. Jampolsky
Thanks for treating me like, you know, a person through all this shit. I know that isn't always easy. (Stark)You do have a habit of pissing on other people's welcome mats. But, when a gentleman gives you a booty call to a massacre, it's easy to forgive. Ciao. (Candy)
— Richard Kadrey, Sandman Slim
The difference between a moral person and a person of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, made out of weakness and tries to make amends with their life when they find the opportunity to say they are sorry is lost.
— Shannon L. Alder
The clipping said forgiveness meant that God is for giving, and that we are here for giving too, and that to withold love or blessings is to be completely delusional.
— Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
How can you forgive what I
— Paula Weston, Burn
If we really want to learn how to forgive, perhaps we had better start with something easier than the Gestapo.
— C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
I hope you can someday forgive me.''I forgive you now.
— Richard Paul Evans, Miles to Go
Forgiving someone isn't just about doing good to another. It's also about healing a scar in your own heart.
— Nouman Ali Khan
A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring.
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
How can I forgive if you are not ready to give up that which caused you to stumble?
— Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Mistress of Spices
--I truly and deeply wanted to kill him. And I believe I could have done it, with nothing but my hands. But all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Peter had an arm around me. "Let it go, Kade," he was whispering very gently, though his arm was nearly crushing me. "Open your fists," he said, "and let go of the coals.
— David James Duncan, The Brothers K
And there, right in the middle of it, I find 'Forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.' There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. It is made perfectly clear that if we do not forgive we shall not be forgiven.
— C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
It's a kind of arrogance to be so certain you're past redemption.
— Ellis Peters, A Morbid Taste for Bones
And we're all good, everything is forgiven between Beethoven and me because this is the part of me that hasn't changed. In this monent I'm not defined by the other things, the things that happened to me, the things I didn't choose. This is the part of me that defines me for all time, for always. The thing I choose completely.
— Daisy Whitney, The Mockingbirds
Because he has never forgiven himself any fault, he can forgive no one else's.
— Linda Berdoll, Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues
Forgiveness is the key to the heart's shackles.
— Richard Paul Evans, Miles to Go
...here also forgiving does not mean excusing. Many people seem to think it does. They think that if you ask them to forgive someone who has cheated or bullied them you are trying to make out that there was really no cheating or bullying. But if that were so, there would be nothing to forgive. (This doesn't mean that you must necessarily believe his next promise. It does mean that you must make every effort to kill every taste of resentment in your own heart - every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out.)
— C.S. Lewis, Fern Seed And Elephants
Each one of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done.
— Sheryl Sandberg, Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy
Love is a sacrificial item
— Asa Don Brown
I felt ashamed for having judged him so harshly without knowing the real boy. His one offense against me―goaded by Charlie’s bullying character―was easy to forgive.
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Dandelions: The Disappearance of Annabelle Fancher
Epictetus say that everything has two handles, one by which it can be borne and one which it cannot. If your brother sins against you, he says, don't take hold of it by the wrong he did you but by the fact that he's your brother. That's how it can be borne.
— Anne Tyler
If there were two enemies hating each other for a long time, to me, the winner would be the one who finally has the courage to forgive.
— Primadonna Angela
We beat the drum slowly and played the fife lowly,and bitterly wept as we bore him along.For we all loved our comrade so brave, young and handsome, we all loved our comrade although he'd done wrong."The Cowboy's Lament
— Leif Enger, So Brave, Young and Handsome
So what does forgiveness really do for you? Is it even a real thing? Or is it something humans just made up to make ourselves feel better? Or is it like the concept of time, something that actually exists, but our little brains can't really comprehend it, so we just measure it and give the pieces names until we've dumbed it down for ourselves?
— Juliette Fay, Shelter Me
This is a wonderful joke to play upon a prisoner, to promise forgiveness.
— Kate DiCamillo
Forgiveness is a funny thing, it warms the heart and cools the sting.
— Peter Allen
But what? But it was just so much easier to deal with the old pain by ignoring it? Forgetting it? Andy's presence meant having to actively work at forgiving him, and that was hard. Forgetting was much easier than forgiving--forgiving was an on-going process that had to continue past the dramatic declarations of apology and absolution.
— Diana Killian, Dial Om for Murder
Forgiveness is what sets us free… Forgiveness= freedom
— Shelley Hitz, Forgiveness Formula: Finding Lasting Freedom in Christ
I know you loved both he and I, the way a mother can love two sons. And no one should be judged for loving more than they ought, only for loving not enough.
— Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless
Take a walk through the garden of forgiveness and pick a flower of forgiveness for everything you have ever done. When you get to that time that is now, make a full and total forgiveness of your entire life and smile at the bouquet in your hands because it truly is beautiful.
— Stephen Richards, Forgiveness and Love Conquers All: Healing the Emotional Self
I'm too old to recover, too narrow to forgive myself.
— Lillian Hellman, The Children's Hour
There are certain things in life that you'll be forgiven for, no matter how thoughtless or stupid or reckless, but if you do that same thing twice, you're on your own.
— Jennifer E. Smith, You Are Here
You should never hate anyone, not even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You had to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.
— Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle
In Him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins . . . —Ephesians 1:7Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.
— Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Gain strength. Suck up energy. Make a point of appreciating the fragrance of the flowers and the beauty of the sunset. It is like armor. When you take a moment to practice my message you can then be armed with an ability to be detached. One is meant to forgive, to forgive and be compassionate."~Kuan Yin
— Hope Bradford, Oracle of Compassion: The Living Word of Kuan Yin
When we forgive, the slave we free is ourselves.
— Edward M. Hallowell, Dare to Forgive: The Power of Letting Go & Moving on
You can. It's not a matter of feeling it, it's a matter of doing it - making the decision to bend that iron will of yours in God's direction so that He can hear your prayers and unleash blessings.
— Julie Lessman, A Hope Undaunted
Man cannot measure the bounds nor fathom the depths of divine forgiveness...
— James E. Talmage
Human beings do terrible things to each other and the tragic thing about it all is the way the remembrance of past hurt can rob us of our future and become the narrative of our lives.
— Richard Holloway, On Forgiveness: How Can We Forgive the Unforgiveable?
Forgiving yourself means that you give up on your hope that the past will be different.
— Edward M. Hallowell, Dare to Forgive: The Power of Letting Go & Moving on
To forgive does not mean to condone.
— Allan Lokos, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living
Let what offends God offend me, and what God pardons, I pardon.
— Criss Jami, Killosophy
Perhaps you forgave him too much, but who among us would not wish to be so generously loved and generously forgiven?
— Sherry Thomas, Tempting the Bride
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 OK 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
Forgiveness is not an emotion, it's a decision.
— Randall Worley
Forgiveness can be viewed as love, But love doesn't always guarantee forgiveness.
— Gisclerc Morisset
But forgiveness is the act of not putting anyone out of your heart, even those who are acting out of deep ignorance or out of confusion and pain.
— Jack Kornfield, Meditation for Beginners
If you think you need to forgive anyone....you got it all wrong.
— Vivian Amis
After all, how many of our todays and of our tomorrows do we want to give our yesterdays? It is one thing to be victimized by another. It is quite another to victimize ourselves because we cannot learn from the past or forgive. Those who choose to live in the past, to live in the land of regret and complaint, do so at the sacrifice of their todays and their tomorrows.
— John Lewis Lund
A society needs to know when to forgive, but it also needs to know when to punish.
— Kirtida Gautam, #iAm16iCan
Part of the function of memory is to forget; the omni-retentive mind will break down and produce at best an idiot savant who can recite a telephone book, and at worst a person to whom every grudge and slight is as yesterday's.
— Christopher Hitchens, Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays
Learn to forgive others so that you can release yourself from being held captive by the very negative thoughts around you.
— Stephen Richards
I knew that to really minister to Rwanda's needs meant working toward reconciliation in the prisons, in the churches, and in the cities and villages throughout the country. It meant feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, caring for the young, but it also meant healing the wounded and forgiving the unforgivable.I knew I had to be committed to preaching a transforming message to the people of Rwanda. Jesus did not die for people to be religious. He died so that we might believe in Him and be transformed. I'm engaged in a purpose and strategy that Jesus came to Earth for. My life is set for that divine purpose in Jesus Christ. I was called to that--proclaiming the message of transformation through Jesus Christ.
— John Rucyahana, The Bishop of Rwanda: Finding Forgiveness Amidst a Pile of Bones
Incidentally, I really agree with those who say that the capacity to forgive says something about the essential quality of a person. I'm the lowest grade.''I didn't mean to criticize you.''I promise to be better in my next life...
— Jo Nesbø, Panserhjerte
Keep in mind that when sin is viewed superficially, it is dealt with superficially.
— Erwin W. Lutzer, When You've Been Wronged: Moving From Bitterness to Forgiveness
A world where a majority had imbibed the lessons implicit within tragic art would be one in which the consequences of our failures would necessarily cease to weigh upon us so heavily.
— Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety
When you are happy you can forgive a great deal.
— Diana, Princess of Wales
More Miracles occur from Gratitude and Forgiveness than anything else
— Philip H. Friedman, The Forgiveness Solution: The Whole-Body Rx for Finding True Happiness, Abundant Love, and Inner Peace
Coming home seemed to have started the healing process. No longer vivid and garish, the memories seemed to be covered in gossemer, fading behind a curtain of time and forgiveness.
— Karen Fowler, Memories For Sale
The two families, sundered in the ruin of a friendship, were united again first in new friendship and then in mariage. My grandfather made a peace here that has joined many who would otherwise have been divided. I am the child of his forgiveness.
— Wendell Berry, Fidelity
I have only known two men's souls in my life, one the devil, the other the the bird's wings which picked me up and carried me back to the freedom of being.
— Wendy gibbins
You want to know how to stop this killer? Forgive yourself, and he’lldisappear from your life forever.”“Thanks. I’ll be sure to do that.”And I know:1. This is almost the same conversation I’ve had with myself many timesbefore.2. Gordon’s only trying to help.But it doesn’t matter.I:1. Say, “See you later.”2. Step outside.3. Close the door.I don’t want to, really. I want to go back inside and believe Gordon’s words,like a child believing in a fairy tale, and I want to escape this nightmare forever.But I can’t.I realize now that it’s easy to tell the difference between a real problem andan imaginary one.It’s just the terror of facing the truth that’s hard.
— Jeremy C. Shipp, Cursed
There's a hard law, mejuffrou, that when a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.
— Alan Paton, Too Late the Phalarope
I respect all the innocent souls because they are kind enough to forgive the selfish people around them.
— Saurabh Sharma
Forgiveness should come naturally.
— Zarina Bibi
There is a limit to human charity," said Lady Outram, trembling all over."There is," said Father Brown dryly, "and that is the real difference between human charity and Christian charity. You must forgive me if I was not altogether crushed by your contempt for my uncharitableness today; or by the lectures you read me about pardon for every sinner. For it seems to me that you only pardon the sins that you don't really think sinful. You only forgive criminals when they commit what you don't regard as crimes, but rather as conventions. So you tolerate a conventional duel, just as you tolerate a conventional divorce. You forgive because there isn't anything to be forgiven.
— G.K. Chesterton, The Complete Father Brown
... but if I've learned one thing, it's this: forgiveness is crucial. If you can't forgive someone you're mad at, that anger will poison you. You have to learn to let it go"... "people have reasons for doing the things that they do, especially when they care about you. You may not always understand what they are, but if you can try to understand the person then you might see that they really care, despite what happened."pg 100 Meredith to Vlad
— Heather Brewer
View your life with KINDSIGHT. Stop beating yourself up about things from your past. Instead of slapping your forehead and asking, “What was I thinking,” breathe and ask yourself the kinder question, “What was I learning?
— Karen Salmansohn, Bounce Back Book
Sometimes a person needs to hear you forgive them so they can start to forgive themselves.
— Rachel Gibson, Any Man of Mine
You stubborn bastard. Take it from someone who knows firsthand, there’s a lot to be said for forgiveness. Grudges seldom hurt anyone except the one bearing them.""And there’s a lot to be said for knocking enemies upside their heads and cracking skulls open."Ash & Urian
— Sherrilyn Kenyon, One Silent Night
However wretched her origins, she chose freely to continue her crimes against us from the moment she woke to this life. It is easy to forgive beautiful women, especially when they lay a sorrowful tale before you like a sugar-dusted meal. It does not mean they deserve forgiveness.
— Catherynne M. Valente, In the Night Garden
Where error is irreparable, repentance is useless.
— Edward Gibbon
There will be grace and forgiveness enough, old dog, even for you. I pray you will spare me a drink from that cup, when it overflows for you.- Miles Vorkosigan
— Lois McMaster Bujold, The Warrior's Apprentice
When we touch...our gods lay down their weapons and I can forgive every trespass...
— Katie Waitman, The Merro Tree
But understand that the reason it is so difficult to extend forgiveness to those who have failed us is because we are unable to receive forgiveness for our own failures.
— Emily P. Freeman, Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life
remembering and forgiving can be contrary things
— Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
I'm a good enough person to forgive you, and you should be a good enough person to not do it again.
— Annette Thomas
The immoral woman in Luke 7 has the faith to anticipate Christ's forgiveness. She can act in love with no words to justify.
— Jenn Thoman
The doctrine of original sin is the doctrine according to which divine forgiveness makes known the accidental nature of human mortality, thus permitting an entirely new anthropological understanding.
— James Alison, The Joy of Being Wrong: Original Sin Through Easter Eyes
Our two peoples are sworn enemies,” he whispered. “You would not do it.”“Call me your enemy no more,” Jan bade him, drawing nearer. “I grow weary of our being enemies. The scars your talons left upon my back this autumn past are old scars now, long healed. Time to heal this ancient rift between our peoples as well.
— Meredith Ann Pierce
Prominent Christians in Constantine's time waited to be baptized until their deathbeds lest they commit a "major"sin that couldn't be forgiven of those already baptized. Others felt anyone who did anything to avoid martyrdom were apostates had no valid subsequent ministry.
— Thomas F. Madden, From Jesus to Christianity: A History of the Early Church
I close my eyes and melt in its embrace, basking in the sweetest balm of forgiveness: that for which one need not even ask.
— Leslie Cannold, The Book Of Rachael
Is it possible that our world still knows better how to deal with a bandit, a murderer, and insurrectionist than it knows what to do with the Prince of Peace? There is a sense in which an assassin's attempt on the pope's life is less shocking to our world than the pope's forgiveness of him. Is it possible that we would rather deal with raw power that rides on a stallion than with this one who comes on a donkey, with the weapons of love, patience, suffering, and peace? Given the choice, isn't it possible that we would take Barabbas, too?
— James A. Harnish
Oh, I know, I know that heart, that wild but grateful heart, gentlemen of the jury! It will bow before your mercy; it thirsts for a great and loving action, it will melt and mount upwards. There are souls which, in their limitation, blame the whole world. But subdue such a soul with mercy, show it love, and it will curse its past, for there are many good impulses in it. Such a heart will expand and see that God is merciful and that men are good and just. He will be horror-stricken; he will be crushed by remorse and the vast obligation laid upon him henceforth. And he will not say then, 'I am quits,' but will say, 'I am guilty in the sight of all men and am more unworthy than all.' With tears of penitence and poignant, tender anguish, he will exclaim: 'Others are better than I, they wanted to save me, not to ruin me!
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
There are crimes that are truly uncomely. With crimes, whatever they may be, the more blood, the more horror there is, the more imposing they are, the more picturesque, so to speak, but there are crimes that are shameful, disgraceful, all horror aside, so to speak, even far too ungracious...
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Demons
I cannot hate any man!
— Martin Luther King Sr., Daddy King
O, sir,' murmured Sheila, still on her knees, 'please forgive me.''Forgive you! 0, la, la, la!' cunningly cried the droll, and strutting like an actor. 'Forgiveness is easy, is it not? O, yes, it is nothing. You are a young woman full of pride. O. yes! - but that is nothing. And full of penitence, and that is nothing, too. Pride is nothing, penitence nothing, forgiveness nothing, but even a bargain in farthings must be paid to be made, and I am a plain business man. What costs nothing brings no balm, and you would not like that, you would not like that, now would you?' (“The Bogey Man”)
— A.E. Coppard, Dusky Ruth: And Other Stories
I forgive,” Penny said. “But I don’t forget. I’ll remember the kind of gum you were chewing when you did me wrong.
— M.J. Mandrake, Death on the Wind
I’m sure she didn’t mean what she said. Life’s too short to hold grudges.”  “No, you just have to organize your time better,” Elaine said. “I believe in grudges. They help you survive.
— M.J. Mandrake
They gave me their names, asking me to forgive them and to pray for them. I would later learn how important it is not to keep a grudge against those who have died. In a mysterious way we 'hold them back' and they suffer if we do not forgive them. We keep them from the higher realm; they seem to remain chained and do not reach Heaven. We must forgive them.
— Vassula Ryden, Heaven Is Real But So Is Hell: An Eyewitness Account of What Is to Come
Perfect' - the most misattributed word in English languageA 'perfect' thing can never be improved - at least by what the meaning implies. Why should anyone want to be perfect?Unfortunately, this happens to be my greatest flaw. Turning a relative idea into an absolute one. Seeking perfection in others - or should I say 'subconsciously seeking perfection in myself' and projecting a benchmark based in fantasy on others.Makes one come across as judgmental, intolerant, arrogant or impatient - in short, a platinum-class jerk. But you, my friend, are too kind to tell me. Or you'd rather bear for the moment and cuss me roundly when I'm gone. That's unfair to us both.If I have ever done this to you, I am sincerely sorry.Accept my profound apologies
— Eniitan Akinola
Man needs the mercy of his Maker.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Life is a lot easier when you make peace with yourself. When you forgive yourself. When you stop tormenting yourself over the past or things you have no control over. When you live in acceptance of who and what you are instead of fighting with yourself every day. Loving yourself is vital. Love will heal your heart and the relationship you have with yourself. When you find peace with yourself, when you learn to love yourself everything in your life will be so much easier. You will have a stable place to work from. You will have a home within yourself. You will have a greater inner strength you can draw from. Make peace with yourself first.
— Akiroq Brost
There’s a destructive power in unforgiveness and unforgiveness controls you in a negative way. It’s time to let it all go! You become strong when you genuinely forgive. You become empowered when you genuinely forgive. You gain back your inner peace when you genuinely forgive. You release stress, bitterness and anger when you genuinely forgive. But most importantly, you’re able to live your best life when you genuinely forgive. Give yourself permission to live life free of toxic thoughts, feelings, and energy. Forgive!
— Stephanie Lahart
I need you to forgive me. And then perhaps I can begin to forgive myself. There is no one but you who can do that either.
— Patricia A. McKillip, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
I'm thinking skywriting. 'Sorry I was an asshat. Please forgive my stupid butt.
— Erin Watt, Tarnished Crown
I mean that repeated offences, even when they secure forgiveness, drive out love. And from that I came to say that one may compel obedience but never love.
— Maria McCann, As Meat Loves Salt
ving self and others is an every second of every day of every week, of every month, of every year gift that should not be taken for granted or withdrawn for petty arguments and misunderstandings. No one knows the day nor the hour that we or a loved one will meet our expiration here on this earth. Time to make time to heal, amend and/or forgive broken relationships, to live your dreams without regret and love like there is no tomorrow for when tomorrow is no longer there...memories will be great and consciences will be clear.
— Sanjo Jendayi
There’s a destructive power in unforgiveness and unforgiveness controls you in a negative way. It’s time to let it all go! You become strong when you genuinely forgive. You become empowered when you genuinely forgive. You gain back your inner peace when you genuinely forgive. You release stress, bitterness, and anger when you genuinely forgive. But most importantly, you’re able to live your best life when you genuinely forgive. Give yourself permission to live life free of toxic thoughts, feelings, and energy. Forgive!
— Stephanie Lahart
Forgiveness becomes central to Jesus’ teaching, because to receive reality is always to “bear it,” to bear with reality for not meeting all of our needs. To accept reality is to forgive reality for being what it is, almost day by day and sometimes even hour by hour. Such a practice creates patient and humble people.Forgiveness reveals three goodnesses simultaneously. When we forgive, we choose the goodness of the other over their faults, we experience God’s goodness flowing through ourselves, and we also experience our own capacity for goodness in a way that almost surprises us. We are finally in touch with a much Higher Power, and we slowly learn how to draw upon this Infinite Source.
— Richard Rohr
Anyone who can't forgive someone else for screwing up is deluding themselves. Because we've all made mistakes every bit as bad. And we're each praying we'll be forgiven, too.
— Edward W. Robertson, Blackout
Many of our churches have become content with creating well-behaved constituents instead of forgiven children of God.
— R.J. Grunewald, The Art of Law and Gospel
Your ability to forgive and let go is the biggest evidence of core strength
— Harrish Sairaman
Anger may seem to be a source of energy, but it’s blind.
— Auliq-Ice
You can always return to seek God.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Whoever forsake the deeds of darkness, shall be forgiven by the Lord God.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Whoever turns to God, shall receive mercy.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
I need to know that there's a way for people like us to end up okay. I need to know that there even is such a thing as okay, maybe even good, and it's out there and we just haven't found it yet. There's got to be a happier ending than this, here. There's got to be a better story. Because we deserve one. You deserve one.
— Katja Millay, The Sea of Tranquility
May the dead forgive me, I can do no otherBut as I am commanded; to do more is madness." - Ismene
— Sophocles, Antigone
May the dead forgive me, I can do no otherBut as I am commanded; to do more is madness." - Ismene, Antigone (The Theban Plays) by Sophocles
— Sophocles
Fast forgiveness is a part of Christian culture I want to help change and transform. I ache for a journey of Jesus-like forgiveness. The kind demanding time and suffering in the process.
— Natalie Brenner, This Undeserved Life: Uncovering The Gifts of Grief and The Fullness of Life
Understanding and truly accepting God's forgiveness is the incubator to a meaningful walk with Jesus. As we escape the dregs of compromise to walk in purity and obedience, we are free to grow on God's timetable if we ignore the lies of the unholy world. And only by avoiding faulty human logic can we give our lives over to the seeming risk of a God who is actually unable to be anything but faithful.
— Mark Hall, Your Own Jesus: A God Insistent on Making It Personal
There is a reason God used the east and west to describe how far he cast your sin from you,' he said. 'If you go north, you can only go north so far until you're finally going south. And you can only go south so far until you're going north. But if you start traveling east, it keeps going east forever, and west just keeps going west. If you think about it, you're never going to go so far west that you're going east. That's how far he cast our sin from us.
— Mark Hall, Your Own Jesus: A God Insistent on Making It Personal
It is impossible to forgive whoever has done us harm if that harm has lowered us. We have to think that it has not lowered us, but has revealed our true level.
— Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace
You can’t move on, if you haven’t forgiven yourself, yet.
— Basma Salem, The Art Of Black
God's grace is seed of salvation.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
The hardest thing to ever do is to reveal the naked soul to the world. However, in doing so brings healing, growth, strength, and powerful inspiration!
— H.E. Olsen, Discovering True Love: A true story of how I learned to love in very difficult circumstances
Children always forgive their mothers. That's the way God's designed them. He gives them two arms, two legs, and a heart that will cry 'mother' until the day it stops beating.
— Nadia Hashimi, A House Without Windows
I also believe that forgiveness is appropriate only when parents do something to earn it. Toxic parents, especially the more abusive ones, need to acknowledge what happened, take responsibility, and show a willingness to make amends. If you unilaterally absolve parents who continue to treat you badly, who deny much of your reality and feelings, and who continue to project blame onto you, you may seriously impede the emotional work you need to do.
— Susan Forward, Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life
We are not defined by what knocks us down - we are defined by how we get back up
— Madeleine Black, Unbroken: One Woman's Journey to Rebuild a Life Shattered by Violence. A True Story of Survival and Hope
In the long run, every man will pay the penalty for his own misdeeds. The man who remembers this will be angry with no one, indignant with no one, revile no one, blame no one, offend no one, hate no one.
— Epictetus
No man was to be eulogized for what he did; or censured for what he did or did not do. All of us are the children of conditions, of circumstances, of environment, of education, of acquired habits and of heredity; moulding men as they are and will for ever be.
— Abraham Lincoln
I no longer ask You for either happiness or paradise; all I ask of You is to listen and let me be aware and worthy of Your listening. I no longer ask You to resolve my questions, only to receive them and make them part of You. I no longer ask You for either rest or wisdom, I only ask You not to close me to gratitude, be it of the most trivial kind, or to surprise and friendship. Love? Love is not Yours to give.As for my enemies, I do not ask You to punish them or even to enlighten them; I only ask You not to lend them Your mask and Your powers. If You must relinquish one or the other, give them Your powers, but not Your countenance.They are modest, my prayers, and humble. I ask You what I might ask a stranger met by chance at twilight in a barren land. I ask You, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to enable me to pronounce these words without betraying the child that transmitted them to me. God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, enable me to forgive You and enable the child I once was to forgive me too. I no longer ask You for the life of that child, nor even for his faith. I only implore You to listen to him and act in such a way that You and I can listen to him together
— Elie Wiesel
That I feed the beggar, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of Christ, all these are undoubtedly great virtues. What I do unto the least o’ my brethren, that I do unto Christ. But what if I should discover that the least amongst them all, the poorest of all beggars, the most impudent of all offenders, yeah, the very fiend himself, that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness, that I myself am the enemy who must be loved. What then? Then, as a rule, the whole truth of Christianity is reversed: there is then no more talk of love and long-suffering; we say to the brother within us “Raca,” and condemn and rage against ourselves. We hide him from the world, we deny ever having met this least among the lowly in ourselves, and had it been God himself who drew near to us in this despicable form, we should have denied him a thousand times before a single cock had crowed.
— C.G. Jung
I often leave... You see, I'm not angry nor hold grouches at what they do. It makes me angry that they would get mad if I did what they do.
— Efrat Cybulkiewicz
You will find it possible to forgive when you realize that forgiveness is a remedy to self.
— Gift Gugu Mona
Forgiveness is a conscious choice to become more liberated and less constrained by the past. This simple act of changing one’s mindset can be the wellspring of tolerance, mercy, and compassion.
— Brent Green
Forgiveness isn't reserved for the ones who deserve it. God gives it freely, and we should do the same. The one person you can set free from bitterness is you. The fact that your dad apologized is amazing. But even if he hadn't, at some point you're going to have to let go of your anger or you'll end up just like him, hurting the people you're supposed to love.
— Liz Johnson, On Love's Gentle Shore
I need to accept God’s love and forgiveness, turning away from my sin and toward Him starting every day anew just as His mercies are new every morning.
— Teresa Schultz, The Bible In Poetry,
God needs loving, accepting, and compassionate people—not accepting of sin, but accepting God’s forgiveness of sin for all who repent. 
— Teresa Schultz, The Bible In Poetry,
If we regularly ponder the depth of our own sinfulness, like the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears, and consider the greater depth of God's forgiveness, we will grow in our love for him. It is when we forget God's benefits that our hearts become proud. If we are not careful, we who have been forgiven much can act like those who think they have been forgiven little and, consequently, become slow to forgive others who sin against us.
— Paul Tautges, Pray about Everything: Cultivating God-Dependency
Forgiveness is the best way to disempower the enemy.
— Gift Gugu Mona
I don't expect forgiveness.I only expect acceptance.
— Anthony T. Hincks
As it peaks over the horizon, does not a sunrise whisper the opportunity to try again. And if the day passes and our efforts were stunted by the bane of our insecurities or blunted by the challenges of life, does not a sunset invite us to rest before it whispers the same message the next morning?
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
It is up to each one of us to immunize ourselves from any disabling bolts of anger and defend ourselves from the thunderstorms of hatred. No matter how maliciously anyone might act towards us, humankinds’ ability to express empathy, compassion, and mercy is the only life-sustaining panacea. Whenever we foster empathy and compassion and display mercy towards other people, we overcome the vilest actions and greatest atrocities committed by other persons. If we love everyone, we can never feel victimized or hate anyone. If we love ourselves, we will never act in a degrading manner.
— Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls
Forgiveness is the road of love.
— Ahmed Mayouf
Thank God forgiven me of my many sins.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Forgiveness belongs to God.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Is the any grace like go and sin no more?
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Who shall deliver us from the sin of the flesh? GOD alone, the Divine Being.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
My belief that everyone is a person, no matter what they’ve done, and that taking a human life is wrong.
— Alexandria Marzano-Leznevich
It is a fight to let go of a past that refuses to withdraw its sticky tentacles from your present.
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons
When you forgive, you love.
— Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
I have forgiven Sonora. I have forgiven New York, forsaken the recursion of history. But I do not yet know how to forgive myself.
— Hannah Lillith Assadi, Sonora
I tend to walk around convinced that any amount of forgiveness that I could extend could never possibly compensate for the offenses that I’ve had to endure. Yet, maybe the greater offense is that I’ve got that backwards.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Forgiveness doesn't mean what happened wasn't wrong or didn't matter. If it wasn't wrong or didn't hurt, there wouldn't be anything to forgive.
— Leigh  Powers
She became fascinated by the statue of Edith Cavell and would stand at the base of it in the freezing cold of a December morning, looking up: -Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone-. Sometimes those words made her cry. The tears would come uncontrollably and they would not stop. And in those moments Anna found forgiveness and it made her free. But they were only moments. Forgiveness is a hard thing to hang on to.
— Miranda Emmerson, Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars
What happens when you give people a 2nd chance? They blame you for it. What happens when you give people a 3rd chance? They ridicule you. What happens when you give them a 4th chance? They make sure they will have a 5th. What happens when you give them a 5th? They blame you for everything and laugh at you. What happens when you give them a 6th? At this point, they try to kill you by accident before you even have another chance of living them. What happens when you give them a 7th chance? They punish you for all the chances you have given them before and betray you in the most horrible way they can, proving that they didn’t deserve not even one chance at anything. Forgiveness is not for everyone, and those that deserve it never reach the point of even needing it.
— Robin Sacredfire