Forgiving Quotes

A-tone-ment-its a chance to fix the unfixable and to start all over again. It begins when you forgive yourself for all you've done wrong, and forgive others for all they've done to you. Your mistakes aren't mistakes anymore, they're just things that make you stronger. ~ Glenn Beck

Deceiving people was natural ... It had been my job for so long that lying to protect myself, or those I loved, was as easy as breathing. I'd promise Rachel that there would be no more lies, forgiving or not. When it came to her, there hadn't been, and there wouldn't be when she came back. But all bets were off until I found her. I would deceive anyone, lie about everything, and do anything to get her back. ~ Molly McAdams

Love is daily admitting to yourself, your spouse, and God that you are not able to love this way without God's protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace. ~ Paul David Tripp

Let us beware of the prayer for forgiveness becoming a formality: only what is really confessed is really forgiven. Let us in faith accept the forgiveness as promised: as a spiritual reality, an actual transaction between God and us, it is the entrance into all the Father's love and all the privileges of children. Such forgiveness, as a living experience, is impossible without a forgiving spirit to others: as forgiven expresses the heavenward, so forgiving the earthward, relation of God's child. In each prayer to the Father I must be able to say that I know of no one whom I do not heartily love. 'And ~ Andrew Murray

Getting angry is like burning yourself with other people's fires. Let is stop by being kind and forgiving like water. ~ Debasish Mridha

Most of the time we're persecuted not because we love Jesus, but because we're prideful, arrogant jerks who don't love the real Jesus. We're often judgmental, hypocritical, and legalistic while claiming to follow a Jesus who is forgiving, authentic, and loving. Sometimes people will hate us because we preach the same gospel Jesus preached, and sometimes people will hate us because we're jerks. Let's not do the second one and blame it on the first. ~ Jefferson Bethke

Jesus said, " I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself," knowing that the nature of a forgiving Christ on the cross would compel people to follow Him. As long as the church remains an effective platform for God's light to reveal to the world the sacrifice Jesu samde, the church will be anturally irresistible. Light is inherently inviting
just think of a porch light left on late into the night. Light communicates comfort, warmth, and healing. It gives direction and hope so we can see better and understand more fully. Most people I meet are looking for light. The problem is that the emphasis is of too many churches has gradually shifted and changed. ~ Reggie Joiner

Forgive my grief for one removed Thy creature whom I found so fair I trust he lives in Thee and there I find him worthier to be loved. ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Lord never gets tired of forgiving. "Never," Francis said. "We are the ones who get tired of asking him for forgiveness. ~ John L. Allen Jr.

As a Christian should do no injuries to others, so he should forgive the injuries that others do to him. It is to be like God, who is a good-giving God, and a sin-forgiving God. ~ Ralph Venning

Our forgiving love toward men is the evidence of God's forgiving love in us. It is a necessary condition of the prayer of faith. ~ Andrew Murray

If by chance I talk a little wild, forgive me; I had it from my father. ~ William Shakespeare

When life is forgiving enough to bless you with a minute, a second, of happiness, there's nothing to do but savor the moment, however odd or unexpected or foolish the source might be.
Because who knows when those moments will grace us again. ~ Rebecca Harris

We can forgive anything as long as it isn't done to us. ~ P.D. James

Berlin was charismatic in the roguish way of a love ... It was a lover who was a little dangerous in ways that didn't always show, keeping you a bit on edge, a bit in love and endlessly forgiving because he made her feel that she was exactly where she was meant to be ... Berlin made you like who you were when you were there, as if everything worth being a part of in the world - all those modern ideas about sex and art and women; all that possibility - was right there, in its dark, beating heart. ~ Whitney Otto

We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and never forgive contradictions in that sphere. ~ George Santayana

Sometimes you forgive people simply becuase you still want them in your life. ~ Ally Carter

Life has become unbearable ... Forgive me. ~ Dalida

Through His Atonement, He heals not only the transgressor, but He also heals the innocent who suffer because of those transgressions. As the innocent exercise faith in the Savior and in His Atonement and forgive the transgressor, they too can be healed. ~ C. Scott Grow

My abortion was so long ago I didn't think I needed help. I hoped God had forgiven me but I hadn't realized I didn't forgive myself. After attending this safe, nurturing group I know that I am forgiven and set free. ~ Barbara

If someone busted into your house and robbed you, would you then forgive them if you found out they were a veteran? Of course not. So why are we forgiving McCain for selling out his country by supporting the Bush agenda? ~ Adam McKay

If a man gets drunk and goes out and breaks his leg so that it must be amputated, God will forgive him if he asks it, but he will have to hop around on one leg all his life. ~ Dwight L. Moody

Forgive yourself. The supreme act of forgiveness is when you can forgive yourself for all the wounds you've created in your own life. Forgiveness is an act of self-love. When you forgive yourself, self-acceptance begins and self-love grows. ~ Miguel Angel Ruiz

More courage is required to forgive than is required to take up arms. ~ Jose Ramos-Horta

Forgiving, caring, always willing to give people a second chance until you fucked up again, in which case she'd put you on her shit list. ~ Claire Contreras

Forgiving is not about forgetting, it's letting go of the hurt ~ Mary McLeod Bethune

Jesus receives us with all of our limitations, He bring us the mercy of the Father who forgives us, and transforms our heart, rendering it a new heart, capable of loving Him, who loved His own to the end (cf. John 13:1). And this love is manifested in his mercy. Jesus always forgives us. ~ Pope Francis

Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Don't wait, Mitch. Not everyone gets the time I'm getting. Not everyone is as lucky." I ~ Mitch Albom

The kingdom of heaven promised us certain things: it promised us happiness and a sense of purpose and a sense of having a place in the universe, of having a role and a destiny that were noble and splendid; and so we were connected to things. We were not alienated. But now that, for me anyway, the King is dead, I find that I still need these things that heaven promised, and I'm not willing to live without them. I don't think I will continue to live after I'm dead, so if I am to achieve these things I must try to bring them about – and encourage other people to bring them about – on earth, in a republic in which we are all free and equal – and responsible – citizens.

Now, what does this involve? It involves all the best qualities of things. We mustn't shut anything out. If the Church has told us, for example, that forgiving our enemies is good, and if that seems to be a good thing to do, we must do it. If, on the other hand, those who struggled against the Church have shown us that free enquiry and unfettered scientific exploration is good – and I believe that they have – then we must hold this up as a good as well.

Whatever we can find that we feel to be good – and not just feel but can see with the accumulated wisdom that we have as we grow up, and read about history and learn from our own experiences and so on – wherever they come from, and whoever taught them in the first place, let's use them and do whatever we can do to make the world a little bit ~ Philip Pullman

Are you capable of forgiving and loving God even when you have found out that He is not perfect, even when He has let you down and disappointed you by permitting bad luck and sickness and cruelty in His world, and permitting some of those things to happen to you? Can you learn to love and forgive Him despite His limitations, as Job does, and as you once learned to forgive and love your parents even though they were not as wise, as strong, or as perfect as you needed them to be? ~ Harold S. Kushner

Unforgiveness is a strategic "design," craftily implemented by you enemy to "outwit" you, to cripple your effectiveness in prayer and your power to stand against him victoriously. Which is why, if I were your enemy, I would do everything possible to keep you from forgiving anyone and everyone who's done you any wrong. ~ Priscilla Shirer

Guilt-free friendship says that any time you get back to me is a good time. Guilt-free friendship says that I will always assume the best about your motivations. Guilt-free friendship says that I won't keep score when it comes to emails answered or phone calls returned. Guilt-free friendship focuses on the friendship and ditches the guilt. Guilt-free friendship loves any chance and any slice of time to catch up; it isn't about criticizing how much or how frequently that happens. Instead, guilt-free friendship is generous and forgiving and creates easy space for reconnecting because it doesn't have any conditions for how or when or how often that happens. ~ Lisa-Jo Baker

We are chained to that which we do not forgive ~ Richard Paul Evans

The most faithful disciples of Christ have been builders of peace, to the point of forgiving their enemies, sometimes even to the point of giving their lives for them. ~ Pope John Paul II

Only through forgiving can we understand that there is nothing and no one to forgive. And that we too, if we have hurt someone, have been for them, nothing more than an instrument of Love in the same way they have been for us. In the Oneness there is no separation, no judgment, and everything happens in Divine Perfection. ~ Human Angels

The rich ... should beg the poor to forgive us for the bread we bring them. Healthy people sometimes feel they need to beg forgiveness too, although there is no reason why. Maybe we simply ask forgiveness for not being born where these poor women have been born, knowing that if we lived here too, our fate might well have been the same. ~ Jonathan Kozol

God searches for us, no matter what dark place we're in or what door we're behind. He hears our impossible, audacious prayers for ourselves and others. And He delights in forgiving us and then answering those prayers by letting us return home to Him. ~ Bob Goff

For there are three ways of performing an act of mercy: the merciful word, by forgiving and by comforting; secondly, if you can offer no word, then pray - that too is mercy; and thirdly, deeds of mercy. And when the Last Day comes, we shall be judged from this, and on this basis we shall receive the eternal verdict. ~ Mary Faustina Kowalska

Hope shouldn't increase with good deeds and decrease with sin. In good deeds, my hope is for Allah to accept. In sin, my hope is for Allah to forgive. ~ Yasmin Mogahed

To forgive is indeed the best form of self-interest since anger, resentment, and revenge are corrosive of that summum bonum, the greatest good. ~ Desmond Tutu

I begin with humility, I act with humility, I end with humility. Humility leads to clarity. Humility leads to an open mind and a forgiving heart. With an open mind and a forgiving heart, I see every person as superior to me in some way; with every person as my teacher, I grow in wisdom. As I grow in wisdom, humility becomes ever more my guide. I begin with humility, I act with humility, I end with humility. ~ Eric Greitens

So Allah has to deny perfect justice in order to be merciful. There's no penalty for wrongdoing if you have done enough good things to offset it. But true justice doesn't work that way, not even on earth. If someone is convicted of fraud, the judge doesn't say, 'Well, he was a kind Little League coach. That offsets it.' In Islam, Allah is not perfectly just, because if he were, people would have to pay the penalty for every sin, and no one would get into paradise. That's what perfect justice is." I pushed the vegetables around on my neglected plate. "But I thought God is forgiving. You're implying that because of justice, God can't forgive." "God is forgiving. God wants to forgive people more than anything in the world, to restore them to himself. What I'm saying is that God's desire to forgive doesn't negate his perfect justice. Someone has to pay the penalty for sins. God's justice demands it. ~ David Gregory

Dogs are here to remind us life really is a simple thing. You eat, sleep, take walks, and pee when you must. That's about all there is. They are quick to forgive trespasses and assume strangers will be kind. ~ Jonathan Carroll

I guess the older I get, the more understanding and forgiving I've become. ~ Nikki Reed

Our animal friends' non-reactive and forgiving natures can teach us positive spiritual lessons on a daily basis. ~ Eckhart Tolle

God always forgives when you are totally repentant and you desire to change. He forgives ... and He never gets tired of forgiving. Never. You may get tired asking. I hope not. He never, never tires of forgiving. Never. ~ Mother Angelica

South Africans must recall the terrible past so that we can deal with it, forgiving where forgiveness is necessary but never forgetting. ~ Nelson Mandela

God forgives those who invent what they need. ~ Lillian Hellman

Gone Groupy, has she?' said Hugh. 'How rotten for Tom!' 'Well, it is rather, because Connie's started forgiving him for all sorts of things he never knew he'd done. We're hoping that she'll get over it quickly, because she's president of the Women's Conservative Association, besides running the Mothers, and the Village Club, and now that she's a God-guided citizen she simply hasn't a moment to attend to Good Works. I don't know why it is, but when people get Changed they never seem to be as nice as they were before. ~ Georgette Heyer

I've found the best thing to do is to really be loving, kind, forgiving and compassionate with yourself. There are some wonderful practices for that which I talk about in Love For No Reason. ~ Marci Shimoff

We recall our terrible past so that we can deal with it, to forgive where forgiveness is necessary, without forgetting; to ensure that never again will such inhumanity tear us apart; and to move ourselves to eradicate a legacy that lurks dangerously as a threat to our democracy. ~ Nelson Mandela

Unlike running on a road or concrete, natural surfaces are more forgiving and offer a more varied terrain, ultimately resulting in less repetitive micro-trauma to bones and joints than running on hard pavement does. ~ Dean Karnazes

Nothing stirs God's heart more than a humble heart and a merciful spirit. God responds to mercy, because it is through compassion that we fully come to know Him. This is the defining quality of a true follower of Christ. We are never closer to the heart of God than when we are forgiving someone. And we are never farther from it than when we are holding a grudge. ~ Nicky Cruz

The past doesn't determine your future unless you carry it with you into the present. Forgiving yourself and others, you free the universe to begin again at any moment. ~ Marianne Williamson

You're worried about her forgiving you...but you need to be worrying about why you're acting up in the first place. ~ Angela Flournoy

Harm to you is not harm to me in the strict sense, and that is a great part of the problem. He could knock me down the stairs and I would have worked out the theology for forgiving him before I reached the bottom. But if he harmed you in the slightest way, I'm afraid theology would fail me. ~ Marilynne Robinson

There are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptism, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance; yet God does not forgive sins except to the baptized ~ Saint Augustine

Let's remind ourselves that to be compassionate and forgiving doesn't mean we are endorsing dysfunctional behaviour. On the contrary, it's essential the harm that was inflicted upon us is properly validated and grieved. Forgiveness isn't an intellectual concept or an airy-fairy idea. It's a painstaking process. To be compassionate and to forgive mean we are gradually letting go of poisonous, toxic feelings that are trapped in our minds and bodies. ~ Christopher Dines

Don't see it as forgiving him. See it as allowing yourself to be happy. What will you do with the misery you have chosen? Will you eat misery? ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Here's to the few who forgive what you do, and the fewer who don't even care ~ Leonard Cohen

Don't blame, forgive, All healing is self-healing ~ Albert Schweitzer

Throughout history humans have inflicted countless violent, cruel, and hurtful acts on each other, and continue to do so. Are they all to be condemned; are they all guilty? Or are those acts simply expressions of unconsciousness, an evolutionary stage that we are now growing out of?
Jesus' words, "Forgive them for they do not know what they do," also apply to yourself. ~ Eckhart Tolle

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

Let us make a choice and a promise to be kind, courteous, loving, and forgiving. ~ Debasish Mridha

If I am afraid to speak the truth lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, "You do not understand", or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other's highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love. ~ Amy Carmichael

Nobody will be able to forgive me but myself. ~ Ding Ling

Stick to the key of C, dude. No sharps or flats. More forgiving. ~ Jeff Zentner

Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives. ~ Lawana Blackwell

Those who easily forgive invite offenses. ~ Pierre Corneille

Humility leads to an open mind and a forgiving heart. ~ Eric Greitens

I like to think of love as being slightly more forgiving than time. ~ Cath Crowley

Forgiveness is God's invention for coming to terms with a world in which people are unfair to each other and hurt each other deeply. He began by forgiving us. And He invites us all to forgive each other. ~ Lewis B. Smedes

Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways! Re-clothe us in our rightful mind, In purer lives thy service find, In deeper reverence praise ~ John Greenleaf Whittier

Today I offer a prayer of forgiveness:
forgive the pettiness of my ingratitude ...
the absence of profound thankfulness. ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

Forgiveness. The ability to forgive oneself. Stop here for a few breaths and think about this because it is the key to making art, and very possibly the key to finding any semblance of happiness in life. Every time I have set out to translate the book (or story, or hopelessly long essay) that exists in such brilliant detail on the big screen of my limbic system onto a piece of paper (which, let's face it, was once a towering tree crowned with leaves and a home to birds). I grieve for my own lack of talent and intelligence. Every. Single. Time. Were I smarter, more gifted, I could pin down a closer facsimile of the wonders I see. I believe, more than anything, that this grief of constantly having to face down our own inadequacies is what keeps people from being writers. Forgiveness, therefore, is key. I can't write the book I want to write, but I can and will write the book I am capable of writing. Again and again throughout the course of my life I will forgive myself. ~ Ann Patchett

Forgiveness doesn't work that way. You may want to forgive, but you can't do it yet. Forgiving someone can take weeks, months, years. Sometimes it takes a lifetime. ~ Anne Bishop

Love yourself-accept yourself-forgive yourself-and be good to yourself, because without you the rest of us are without a source of many wonderful things. ~ Leo Buscaglia

Forgiving is an affair strictly between a victim and a victimizer. Everyone else should step aside ... The worst wounds I ever felt were the ones people gave to my children. Wrong my kids, you wrong me. And my hurt qualifies me to forgive you. But only for the pain you caused me when you wounded them. My children alone are qualified to forgive you for what you did to them. ~ Lewis B. Smedes

Forgiving doesn't make the person who hurt you feel better, it makes you feel better. ~ Chetan Bhagat

I've been in situations where forgiveness has been withheld from me. And I've come to understand it's their choice. But just because they choose to live in a prison of unforgiveness doesn't mean I have to sit in there with them. Another perspective comes from R.T. Kendall in his book, Total Forgiveness, "Forgiving yourself may bring about the breakthrough you have been looking for. It could set you free in ways you have never experienced before." The things we've been through, even if they are shameful or destructive, could very well be things God wants to use in our lives to help others. And if we're standing in the way of our forgiveness, healing, and freedom, how can God do His work in our lives? ~ Tracie Stier-Johnson

Instead of exhibiting talent in the hope that the world would forgive their eccentricities, they have exhibited only their eccentricities, in the hope that the world would give them credit for talent. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

I feel like God has forgiven me of so much, that I will forgive everyone who has hurt us. ~ Jim Bakker

Little vicious minds abound with anger and revenge and are incapable of feeling te pleasure of forgiving their enemies. ~ Lord Chesterfield

Prayer is the converse of the soul with God. Therein we manifest or express to Him our reverence, and love for His divine perfection, our gratitude for all His mercies, our penitence for our sins, our hope in His forgiving love, our submission to His authority, our confidence in His care, our desires for His favour, and for the providential and spiritual blessings needed for ourselves and others. ~ Charles Hodge

I cannot forgive a scholar his homeless despondency. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

We can easily forgive want of means; but littleness, with means, is disgusting. ~ Anne-Therese De Marguenat De Courcelles

When we think we have been hurt by someone in the past, we build up defenses to protect ourselves from being hurt in the future. So the fearful past causes a fearful future and the past and future become one. We cannot love when we feel fear ... When we release the fearful past and forgive everyone, we will experience total love and oneness with all. ~ Gerald G. Jampolsky

Other-cheekism is not only a way of purifying the soul, it is also part of every weak person's survival kit. ~ Quentin Crisp

He thought America's character would be defined by how it treated its vanquished enemies, and he wanted to graduate from bitter wartime grievances to the forgiving posture of peace. ~ Ron Chernow

Forgiveness does not mean condoning or agreeing with a horrendous act. It is a decision to no longer attack one's self. ~ Gerald G. Jampolsky

This is why I forgive, but I don't forget. When you forget someone, the forgiveness doesn't mean anything anymore. ~ Barry Lyga

To create today is to create dangerously. Any publication is an act, and that act exposes one to the passions of an age that forgives nothing. ~ Albert Camus

Have you thought that your willingness to forgive is really your affirmation of the power of God to do you good? ~ Paula Rinehart

The gospel is a gospel of giving and forgiving. ~ Charles Spurgeon

Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering
remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you dont want to repeat what happened. ~ Desmond Tutu

When you initially forgive, it is like letting go of a hot iron. There is initial pain and the scars will show, but you can start living again. ~ Stephen Richards

You are not, though, forgiving so as to let others off with things. You are forgiving so that you can empower yourself to get over it and become strong. ~ Stephen Richards

To forgive and forget means to throw away dearly bought experience. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

We think that forgiveness is weakness, but it's absolutely not; it takes a very strong person to forgive. ~ T.D. Jakes

If you are not already dead, forgive. Rancor is heavy, it is worldly; leave it on earth: die light. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre