Forgiveness, a small word with immense strength. It’s the balm that mends wounds, the key that unlocks peace, and the bridge that mends relationships. In our journey through life, forgiveness is a beacon of light that guides us towards healing.
In this collection of forgiveness quotes, we’ll explore the profound wisdom shared by thinkers, leaders, and everyday people who have experienced the transformative power of letting go. These quotes remind us that forgiveness isn’t about condoning actions, but about liberating ourselves from the weight of anger and resentment.
So, join us on this journey of understanding, as we embrace the liberating embrace of forgiveness. Let these words be a gentle nudge towards a more peaceful heart.
- Weak people revenge. Strong people forgive. Intelligent people ignore. Albert Einstein
- An apology is the super glue of life. It can repair just about anything. Lynn Johnston
- Every one of us has the capacity to love, to forgive, to understand, and to be compassionate. Thich Nhat Hanh
- Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. Ralph Waldo Emerson
- If we can forgive what’s been done to us… If we can forgive what we’ve done to others… If we can leave our stories behind. Our being victims and villains. Only then can we maybe rescue the world. Chuck Palahniuk
- Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them? Abraham Lincoln
- Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. Cherie Carter-Scott
- How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours. Wayne Dyer
- When we can recognize and forgive ignorant actions of the past, we gain the strength to constructively solve the problems of the present. 14th Dalai Lama
- Forgiveness is a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on. Steve Maraboli
- Strive to be first: first to nod, first to smile, first to compliment, and first to forgive. Rhonda Byrne
- Forgiveness is the only thing that cleans the slate, dissolving the old so the new can come in. Marianne Williamson
- Forgiveness isn’t approving what happened. It’s choosing to rise above it. Robin Sharma
- On the whole, my impression is that mercy bears richer fruits than any other attribute. Abraham Lincoln
- Kiss slowly, laugh insanely, love truly, forgive quickly. Paulo Coelho
- To err is human; to forgive, divine. Alexander Pope
- Your past is over; it cannot touch you. Forgive all involved, including yourself. Marianne Williamson
- The cruel always believe the kind are weak. But human decency and goodness can also move human affairs. David Frum
- Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. Paul Boese
- The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world. Marianne Williamson
- Forgotten is forgiven. F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Be you. Do you. For you. Wesley Snipes
- To understand all is to forgive all. French proverb
- Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. Isaac Friedmann
- Forgive and it relieves you. Maya Angelou
- What I cannot love, I overlook. Anais Nin
- Forgiveness is an act of self-love. Don Miguel Ruiz
- To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. Louis B. Smedes
- There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness. Josh Billings
- You’re a slave to everyone you haven’t forgiven. Lawrence King
- Forgiving people who harmed you in the past is a good for your soul. Dan Go
- The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Mahatma Gandhi
- Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much. Oscar Wilde
- There are difficult things about you too. Alain de Botton
- As long as it’s not malicious, just forgive. Shane Parrish
- I remember everything but forgive anyway. Erica Jong
- Everyone says that forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive. C. S. Lewis
- We pardon to the extent that we love. François de La Rochefoucauld
- The mind cannot forgive. Only you can. Eckhart Tolle
- Choose to forgive and free your heart. Desmond Tutu
- Forgive them even if they are not sorry. Julian Casablancas
- Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different, it’s accepting the past for what it was, and using this moment and this time to help yourself move forward. Oprah Winfrey
- Forgiveness is just another name for freedom. Byron Katie
- Those who understand evil pardon it. George Bernard Shaw
- Hating someone makes them important. Forgiving them makes them obsolete. Unknown
- Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge. William Shakespeare
- Forgive and forget. Not revenge and regret. Unknown
- All major religious traditions carry basically the same message; that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives. 14th Dalai Lama
- I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. Abraham Lincoln
- Forget, forgive; conclude, and be agreed. William Shakespeare
- Compassion and love are the source of all spiritual qualities: forgiveness, tolerance, all the virtues. 14th Dalai Lama
- Let the brain go to work, let it meet the heart and you will be able to forgive. Maya Angelou
- True forgiveness is when you can say, “Thank you for that experience”. Oprah Winfrey
- Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. John F. Kennedy
- We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. Martin Luther King Jr
- Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. Mark Twain
- Love truth, but pardon error. Voltaire
- Without forgiveness, there’s no future. Desmond Tutu
- If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive. Mother Teresa
- Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love. Mahatma Gandhi
- As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more freely. Madame de Stael
- Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude. Martin Luther King Jr
- Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself. Marcus Aurelius
- Without forgetting it is quite impossible to live at all. Friedrich Nietzsche
- A life lived without forgiveness is a prison. William Arthur Ward
- It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody. Maya Angelou
- Happiness is a choice. Forgiveness is a choice. Acceptance, anger, desire, love…all choices. Your time. Your choice. Scott Shaw
- While revenge weakens society, forgiveness gives it strength. 14th Dalai Lama
- The simple truth is, we all make mistakes, and we all need forgiveness. Desmond Tutu
- The highest result of education is tolerance. Helen Keller
- The only thing evil can’t stand is forgiveness. Fred Rogers
- Let no man pull you low enough to hate him. Martin Luther King Jr
- Until we can forgive, we remain locked in our pain and locked out of the possibility of experiencing healing and freedom, locked out of the possibility of being at peace. Desmond Tutu
- There is great freedom in not needing to await the forgiveness of another. Kapil Gupta
- We should learn to accommodate ourselves to “wrongness”, striving always to adopt a more forgiving, humorous and kindly perspective on its multiple examples in ourselves and in our partners. Alain de Botton
- You either get bitter or you get better. It’s that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. Josh Shipp
- 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
- I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him. Booker T. Washington
- If you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble. Bob Hope
- Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. Buddha
- Forgiveness is man’s deepest need and highest achievement. Horace Bushnell
- Love the sinner and hate the sin. Augustine of Hippo
- To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. Confucius
- If you cannot forgive yourself, you cannot forgive others. D. Muthukrishnan
- Tell them you still love them, and they will get the message. Yoko Ono
- To understand everything is to forgive everything. Osho
- A noble spirit finds a cure for injustice in forgetting it. Publius Syrus
- Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace. Mel Robbins
- They might not deserve forgiveness but I deserve peace, so I forgive them. Chris Ruden
- Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King Jr
- If you want to see the brave, look to those who can return love for hatred. If you want to see the heroic, look to those who can forgive. Bhagavad Gita
- Forgetting is the only revenge and the only forgiveness. Jorge Luis Borges
- I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become. Unknown
- Can you hate someone for what they have done, but still love them for whom they had been? Jodi Picoult
- Wrongs are often forgiven, but contempt never is. Our pride remembers it forever. Lord Chesterfield
- It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive. Emily Brontë
- It is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned. Francis of Assisi