Forgiveness Quotes and Sayings, Photo credit: Unsplash
More than 60 quotes and sayings about forgiveness
Forgiving others do not mean that we condone what was done. We just consciously choose not to serve the term for the wrongs that were done in the past. Forgiveness doesn’t change the past, but it sure will change the future. It releases us and set us free. Leave retribution, if any, to the Universe. Choose to forgive for your own happiness and health.
1. A forgiving and generous heart is the fountain of happiness.
Remain soft-spoken and forgiving, even when reason is on your side.
Be forgiving towards others. Be cautious in your speech.
We can choose to bear grudges or forgive. With a change of thought, we can tolerate everything.
2. If forgiveness is medicine for the soul, then gratitude is vitamins.
Forgiveness is a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on.
The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.
3. Write your sorrows in sand and your blessings in stone.
Forgive them, even if they are not sorry. Holding on to anger only hurts you, not them.
– Timber Hawkeye
4. Love doesn’t keep a record of wrongs. If you’re going to keep a record of anything, make sure it’s about all the good things people do. If you have a record of wrongs … erase them.
Unforgiveness is like a poison and a bitterness in your soul. It’s time to get ride of that poison.
Unforgiveness is like a poison and a bitterness in your soul, and your life will always be bitter until you get rid of that poison
5. Forgiveness is a form of gratitude. When we forgive others, we show them the mercy that we have often received and been thankful for.
– Sarah Ban Breathnach
6. We are supposed to forgive everyone; everyone includes ourselves.
7. The act of forgiveness takes place in our own mind. It really has nothing to do with the other person.
Forgiveness is a gift to myself. I forgive, and I set myself free.
Forgiving makes me feel free and light.
Being unwilling to forgive is a terrible thing to do to ourselves.
As I forgive myself, it becomes easier to forgive others.
I forgive everyone in my past for all perceived wrongs. I release them with love.
8. True forgiveness is when you can say, “Thank you for that experience.”
#9 Knitting, Praying, Forgiving, Cheryl Wunsch
9. Sometimes we need to forgive ourselves, as I did, for the things we feel we did not do for our loved one.
– Cheryl Wunsch
10. Forgiveness is the needle that knows how to mend.
– Jewel
11. … forgive yourself. Let go of what’s bitter and move on.
12. As long as you don’t forgive, who and whatever it is will occupy rent-free space in your mind.
– Isabelle Holland
13. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
14. You have the power to take away someone’s happiness by refusing to forgive. That someone is you.
15. Forgive! It doesn’t erase their crime, but why should you do the time? Let go of resentment.
– Dodinsky
16. Forgiveness gives you wings to fly.
Forgive yourself when you are not at your best and it becomes easier to forgive others.
– Symphony of Love
17. When you forgive, you heal your own anger and hurt and are able to let love lead again. It’s like spring cleaning for your heart.
18. Forgive and give as if it were your last opportunity. Love like there’s no tomorrow, and if tomorrow comes, love again.
19. I don’t forgive people because I’m weak, I forgive them because I am strong enough to know people make mistakes.
20. As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.
21. Do not let the shadows of your past darken the doorstep of your future. Forgive and forget.
22. Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
– Author Unknown
23. It can be hard to forgive and let go but it’s important to remember that harboring the resentment and holding a grudge can hurt you even more. The word “forgive” really means to give something up for YOURSELF – not for them.
24. When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure so change the future.
– Bernard Meltzer
25. Bearing grudges only hurts you. Forgiveness forgives you, releases you.
26. Forgive quickly and freely for peace of mind.
Forgive people in your life, even those who are not sorry for their actions. Holding on to anger only hurts you, not them.
Forgive yourself. After all, you did your very best for what you knew at the time.
– Author Unknown
27. …forgiveness means letting go of the hope for a better past.
– Author Unknown [Quoted by Lama Surya Das in Letting Go of the Person You used to be (S)]
28. I remember everything but I forgive anyway.
29. Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
30. Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.
– Robert Jordan
31. To err is human, to forgive, divine.
– Alexander Pope
32. One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.
– Rita Mae Brown
33. Keep in mind, hurting people often hurt other people as a result of their own pain. If somebody is rude and inconsiderate, you can almost be certain that they have some unresolved issues inside. They have some major problems, anger, resentment, or some heartache they are trying to cope with or overcome. The last thing they need is for you to make matters worse by responding angrily.
34. Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
35. We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward.
– Alison Croggon
36. Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.
– Will Smith
37. Forgiveness has nothing to do with absolving a criminal of his crime. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim–letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor.
– C.R. Strahan
38. People have to forgive. We don’t have to like them, we don’t have to be friends with them, we don’t have to send them hearts in text messages, but we have to forgive them, to overlook, to forget. Because if we don’t we are tying rocks to our feet, too much for our wings to carry!
– C. JoyBell C.
39. To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.
40. But we can’t go back. We can only go forward.
– Libba Bray
41. The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire. Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to apologize and to accept an apology. Is there any problem that could not be solved among people who possessed the humility and largeness of spirit and soul to do either – or both – when needed?
Somehow forgiveness, with love and tolerance, accomplishes miracles that can happen in no other way.
42. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.
– Corrie ten Boom
43. Hatred eats the soul of the hater not the hated.
– Alice Herz-Sommer
#44 Poem: Decide to Forgive
44. To forgive is the highest
most beautiful form of love
In return you will receive
untold peace and happiness
– Robert Muller
45. Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.
– Marlene Dietrich
46. When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.
– Katherine Ponder
47. There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.
– Bryant McGill
48. Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
– Paul Boese
49. If you can’t forgive and forget, pick one.
Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.
– Robert Brault
50. He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.
– George Herbert
51. Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself.
– Harriet Nelson
52. Genuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head-on.
– Alice Duer Miller
53. Practicing forgiveness does not mean accepting wrong doing.
54. Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.
Forgiving is not a gift to someone else. Forgiving is your gift to yourself – a great gift – the gift of happiness.
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie
55. Forgiveness leads to a shift in perception. It transforms the hurt into healing.
You can forgive, no matter what has been done to you. As long as you do not forgive, you are locked into the memory of the event.
Forgive everything! Forgiveness does not erase the memory of an experience, it neutralizes its impact.
When you learn to forgive, you no longer have reasons to be angry. You forgive. You move on. It is really quite simple.
If someone has offended, insulted, or disappointed you, let it go! Ask yourself, what good does it do for me to hold on to this?
– Iyanla Vanzant
56. It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.
57. Forgive them. All of your thems. The more thems you can forgive the lighter you’ll feel.
58. Hold no grudges and practice forgiveness. This is the key to having peace in all your relationships.
Forgiveness is an act of self-love.
Live forgiveness every day rather than just talking about it on Sunday.
59. Without forgiveness there can be no future for a relationship between individuals or within and between nations.
Resentment and anger are bad for your blood pressure and your digestion.
Forgiveness is an absolute necessity for continued human existence.
60. Forgiveness isn’t approving what happened. It’s choosing to rise above it.
– Robin Sharma
61. To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
– Lewis B. Smedes
62. Forgiveness is just another name for freedom.
63. It is act of grace to forgive. It is an act of love to offer yourself another chance.
Forgiveness is the only way to clean the emotional wounds. Forgiveness is the only way to heal them.
– Don Miguel Ruiz
64. When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.
– Catherine Ponder
#65 Raise Your Vibration: 111 Practices to Increase Your Spiritual Connection
65. Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting, it means choosing to remember love instead.
– Kyle Gray
66. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence. (The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment)
The most important step out of the karmic law is forgiveness.
67. Anyone can hold a grudge, but it takes a person with character to forgive. When you forgive, you release yourself from a painful burden. Forgiveness doesn’t mean what happened was OK, and it doesn’t mean that person should still be welcome in your life. It just means you have made peace with the pain and are ready to let it go.
Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before you learned it. [S]
– Doe Zantamata
68. I do not forget any good deed done to me, and I do not carry a grudge for a bad one.
69. Remember the healing power of forgiveness.
… without forgiveness the world can never be released from the sorrows of the past…Forgiveness is a way to move on.
Forgiveness is fundamentally for our own sake, for our own mental health. It is a way to let go of the pain we carry.
Forgiveness offers the heart’s mercy that our hurt and fear have withheld for so long.
Forgiveness is the heart’s capacity to release its grasp on the pains of the past and free itself to go on.
Without forgiveness, we are forced to repeat the suffering of the past.
70. Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs. (Jane Eyre)
– Charlotte Bronte
71. Forgiving others, as well as ourselves, is one big key to a happy life. (Flickr)
– Katrina Mayer
72. When you forgive, the person who benefits most is yourself. (Twitter, 07 May 2017)
– Jesse Lyn Stoner
73. In order to heal we must first forgive … and sometimes the person we must forgive is ourselves.
– Mila Bron
#74 The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: How to be Calm in a Busy World
74. Forgive them. So you can be free. So you can be happy. So you can go on living your life. It won’t be easy, and it will feel unjust. A sudden gush of anger may pass through you. Tears of bitterness may roll down your face. Allow those feelings to surface, and let them be. Treat them kindly, with your compassionate hearts.
#75 Doe Zantamata, Happiness in Your Life
75. When you forgive, when you set down the resentment and choose not to relive all those things that hurt you, you get your life back. You get your self back. (Happiness in Your Life: Book 3 – Forgiveness) [S]
#76 Why Won’t You Apologize?
76. If only our passion to understand the other person were as great as our passion to be understood. Were this so, all of our apologies would be truly meaningful and healing.
– Dr. Harriet Lerner
#77 Forgiveness, Worlds of You: Poetry & Prose
77. I forgive you, not for you but for me.
Because, like chains
shackling me to the past,
I will no longer pollute
my heart with bitterness,
fear, distrust, or anger.
I forgive you because hate
is just another way of holding on,
and you don’t belong here anymore.
– Beau Taplin
#78 Twitter, 3 January 2021
78. Forgiveness is just another word for peace in the language of the soul.
#79 Facebook [S]
79. Forgiveness is the best revenge, because when you forgive, it sets you free.
– Robert Holden
80. Any resentment you hold on to is a wall in front of your heart. No technique other than forgiveness can remove it, and no one but you can do it.
Forgiveness is the only way we can release ourselves from the past.
There is no peace without forgiveness.
81. Forgive yourself. Not just once. But again and again. As many times as it takes to find peace.
– Author Unknown
#82 Tyler Perry: Interviews, edited by Janice D. Hamlet, Univ. Press of Mississippi, 25 September 2019
82. It’s not an easy journey, to get to a place where you forgive people. But it is such a powerful place, because it frees you.
– Tyler Perry
#83 Twitter [S]
83. Take forgiveness slowly. Don’t blame yourself for being slow. Peace will come.
– Yoko Ono
#84 Yolanda: 50 Is the New 30 [S]
84. …forgiveness is the best form of love in any relationship. It takes a strong person to say they’re sorry and an even stronger person to forgive.
– Yolanda Hadid
#85 The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again
85. Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years when they could just say, ‘So what.’ That’s one of my favorite things to say. ‘So what.’
– Andy Warhol
#86 The Light in the Heart
86. Embrace being perfectly imperfect. Learn from your mistakes and forgive yourself, you’ll be happier. We make mistakes because we are imperfect. Learn from your mistakes, forgive yourself, and keep moving forward.
– Roy T. Bennett
87. If you can’t do anything about it then let it go. Don’t be a prisoner to things you can’t change. [S]
– Tony A. Gaskins Jr
#88 Twitter [S]
88. You’ve been through enough. Forgive yourself and others. Let it go and step forward with joy.
– Brendon Burchard
#89 Crossed [S]
89. …in the end you can’t always choose what to keep. You can only choose how you let it go.
– Ally Condie
#90 The happiest man on earth: 99 year old Holocaust survivor
90. I do not hate anyone. Hate is a disease which may destroy your enemy, but will also destroy you in the process.
– Eddie Jaku
#91 Twitter
91. Never wish them pain. That’s not who you are. If they caused you pain, they must have pain inside. Wish them healing. That’s what they need. [S]
– Najwa Zebian
#92 Welcome Home: A Guide to Building a Home For Your Soul
92. When pain knocks on your door,
welcome it.
Let it in.
Sit with it.
Have tea with it.
Understand it.
Then let it leave.
When you forgive them, you are saying What you did to me happened. It was not okay. Putting this behind me doesn’t mean that I am minimizing it. It means that it no longer has power over me.
– Najwa Zebian
#93 Christianity the Perfection of True Manliness
93. …never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury. [S]
– Rev. E. H. Chapin (Edwin Hubbell Chapin)
#94 Defy Gravity: Healing Beyond the Bounds of Reason
94. Forgiveness is a challenge meant to cleanse the windows of your mind, particularly those through which you can see only your need for personal justice. [S]
Forgiveness is essential to healing, because it requires you to surrender your ego’s need to have life fall into place around your personal version of justice. [S]
You cannot reason your way through forgiveness. Forgiveness is an act beyond reason. [S]
Without forgiveness, you remain anchored in your past, forever in emotional debt. [S]
– Caroline Myss