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FORGIVENESS QUOTES

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We specifically raised agrarian issues to encourage both conflicting parties to find something in common. Our strategy worked. The people eventually agreed to put aside their religious differences and sit together to reach agreements that could sustain reconciliation.
-- Dewi Rana Amir

* "We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate --- thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising."
-- Maya Angelou

* Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.
-- Hannah Arendt

Our anger and annoyance are more detrimental to us than the things themselves which anger or annoy us.
--Marcus Aurelius

Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.
-- Henry Ward Beecher

* “I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.”
-- Henry Ward Beecher

Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
-- The Bible, Matthew 5:39

There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.
-- Josh Billings

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.
-- Charlotte Bronte

* "Forgiving is one of the most difficult things for a human being to do, but I think it means looking at some slight you feel, putting yourself in the position of the other person, and wiping away any sort of resentment and antagonism you feel toward them. Then let that other person know that everything is perfectly friendly and normal between you."
~ Jimmy Carter

“One of the most basic principles for making and keeping peace within and between nations. . . is that in political, military, moral, and spiritual confrontations, there should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat”
~ Jimmy Carter

Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.
-- Cherie Carter-Scott

Forgo your anger for a moment and save yourself a hundred days of trouble.
-- Chinese proverb

"The man who opts for revenge should dig two graves."
-- Chinese proverb

The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less.
-- Elderidge Cleaver

"I think forgiveness is an aspect of our humanity. I think a lot of as are brought up to believe that if we don't somehow forgive, whatever it is that's ailing, troubling, angering, enraging or shaming us, or getting us in any way worked up, is going to live longer without forgiveness, whether it's ourselves or others we're forgiving."
-- Robert Coles

When anger rises, think of the consequences.
-- Confucius

* People can be more forgiving than you can imagine. But you have to forgive yourself. Let go of what's bitter and move on
-- Bill Cosby

* Life is an adventure in forgiveness.
-- Norman Cousins
* We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy and doubt, that peace and abundance may manifest for all.
-- Dorothy Day

* When you are happy you can forgive a great deal.
-- Princess Diana

* “teach myself to see each of us
through the lens of forgiveness
-- Ani DiFranco


“teach myself to see each of us
through the lens of forgiveness
like we're stuck with each other (god forbid!)
teach myself to smile and stop and talk
to a whole other color kid
teach myself to be new in an instant
like the truth is accessible at any time
teach myself it's never really one or the other
there's a paradox in every paradigm.
-- Ani DiFranco

* The only way children can learn the habit of forgiveness is by seeing us, their parents, forgive others and forgive ourselves.
-- Naomi Drew

Peace is not possible without forgiveness.
-- Naomi Drew

The freedom to be at peace in our own skins - that’s what forgiveness allows. We relinquish this freedom when we hold onto anger and resentment. Enormous amounts of energy are wasted when we hold back our love, hold onto hate, and harbor acrimonious feelings. The only remedy is letting go, and being willing to forgive.
-- Naomi Drew

* For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have 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

"Forgiving is an act of mercy toward an offender. We are no longer controlled by angry feelings toward this person."
-- Robert D. Enright

"Forgiveness works directly on the emotion of anger (and related constructs such as resentment, hostility, or hatred) by diminishing its intensity or level within the mind and heart."
-- Richard Fitzgibbons

* "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind."
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi

Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi

Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi

 

 

 

* "Forgiveness does not overlook the deed. It rises above it."
-- Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

 

Perpetrators who receive the gift of forgiveness are given a chance to change
-- Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

an act of forgiveness sets the victim apart from the perpetrator, who failed to act humanly towards the victim at the time he committed his crime.
-- Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

For perpetrators, when they apologize and experience remorse, it gives them a chance to reclaim their own humanity. Some rise to the moral challenge. Others of course don't care, and they continue acting with contempt.
-- Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

 

 

 

* "Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another."
-- Emma Goldman

 

 

Thanks to their hope for forgiveness, humans can rise above the dark clouds that threaten their horizon and seize the opportunity to see light in their world.
-- M. Fethullah Gülen

* It is impossible for people who have given their heart to seeking forgiveness not to think of forgiving others. Just as they desire to be forgiven, they also desire to forgive.
-- M. Fethullah Gülen

"To forgive is to set yourself free, to acknowledge that it does no good to hate. Hate really, really destroys both the other person and yourself. That realization is what I think taught me about forgiveness, and so I try to live by it."
--Ruby Bridges Hall

* ''To forgive oneself? No, that doesn't work: we have to be forgiven. But we can only believe this is possible if we ourselves can forgive.”
-- Dag Hammarskjöld

Forgiveness is the answer to the child's dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.
-- Dag Hammarskjöld

* Our capacity to make peace with another person and with the world depends very much on our capacity to make peace with ourselves.
-- Thich Nhat Hanh

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.”
-- Thich Nhat Hanh

To reconcile conflicting parties, we must have the ability to understand the suffering of both sides.
-- Thich Nhat Hanh

* “As long as you hate, there will be people to hate.”
-- George Harrison

"Forgiveness does not equal forgetting. It is about healing the memory of the harm, not erasing it."
-- Ken Hart

 

* "Watch our for each other. Love and forgive everybody. It's a good life, enjoy it!"
-- Jim Henson


"Forgiveness does not stand on its own. It is not "unilateral disarmament." Rather it balances self-criticism with commitment to nonviolent social change, which becomes a way of life that does not offer easy answers to complex problems."
-- Karen Hessel

 

* If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others?
-- Dolores Huerta

You know you have forgiven someone when he or she has harmless passage through your mind.
-- Rev. Karyl Huntley

 

* "You’re only human.
Let’s break free of this gravity of judgment
And fly high on the wings of forgiveness."
-- India.Arie

* “You dont have to hold on to the pain, to hold on to the memory.”
-- Janet Jackson

 

Forgiveness is a gift you give to yourself. It is not something you do FOR someone else.
-- Larry James

"Forgiveness is an act of the imagination. It dares you to imagine a better future, one that is based on the blessed possibility that your hurt will not be the final word on the matter. It challenges you to give up your destructive thoughts about the situation and to believe in the possibility of a better future. It builds confidence that you can survive the pain and grow from it. "
-- Larry James

* We all have someone or something to forgive . . . and when we learn how, we become free to increase success in every area of our life.
-- Azim Khamisa

* I refuse to let what happened to me make me bitter.
-- Nicole Kidman

* In spite of the fact that the law of revenge solves no social problems, men continue to follow its disastrous leading. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.”
-- Martin Luther King, Jr

“He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love.”
-- Martin Luther King, Jr

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. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr

"Forgiveness is primarily for our own sake, so that we no longer carry the burden of resentment. But to forgive does not mean we will allow injustice again."
--Jack Kornfield

 

* Real freedom is creative, proactive, and will take me into new territories. I am not free if my freedom is predicated on reacting to my past.
-- Kenny Loggins

Holding on to anger, resentment and hurt only gives you tense muscles, a headache and a sore jaw from clenching your teeth. Forgiveness gives you back the laughter and the lightness in your life.
-- Joan Lunden

 

My dream is to live a good life and be loving, be close to God and be a good human being and bring peace to people.
-- Ziggy Marley

Since nothing can be forgiven for us that is not first forgiven by and through us, there is only one species of forgiveness: self-forgiveness.
-- Noel McInnis

"When you forgive, you in no way change the past -- but you sure do change the future."
-- Bernard Meltzer.

 

 

* To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.
-- Robert Muller

 

 

 

"Forgiveness offers the possibility of two types of peace: peace of mind -- the potential healing of old emotional wounds, and peace with others -- the possibility of new, more gratifying relationships in the future."
-- Kenneth I. Pargament & Mark S. Rye

Can you really forgive if you can't forget?
-- Sarah Jessica Parker

 

"When a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive."
-- Alan Paton

* Force may subdue, but love gains, and he that forgives first wins the laurel.
-- William Penn

 

Five enemies of peace inhabit with us - avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.
-- Petrarch

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

One pardons to the degree that one loves.
-- Francios De La Rochefoucauld

* “When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?”
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Forgiveness is one of the most important first steps to ending conflicts in our families, our communities and between nations.
-- Robert Alan Silverstein

Learning to let things go and forgive isn't always easy, but when we truly forgive, it helps foster better health, better relationships, a deeper sense of purpose and self worth and a feeling of connection to others.
-- Robert Alan Silverstein

* I want to rid my heart of envy, and cleanse my soul of rage before I'm through.
-- Paul Simon

* If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.
-- Mother Teresa

"It takes courage and commitment to act in a more forgiving fashion. It is not at all a sign of weakness but a mark of strength."
-- Carl Thorensen

Genuine forgiveness is participation, reunion overcoming the powers of estrangement. . . We cannot love unless we have accepted forgiveness, and the deeper our experience of forgiveness is, the greater is our love.
-- Paul Tillich

* "Let us forgive each other - only then will we live in peace”
-- Leo Tolstoy

* "...in a very real sense, without forgiveness, there is no future."
-- Desmond Tutu

"Forgiveness is taking seriously the awfulness of what has happened when you are treated unfairly. Forgiveness is not pretending that things are other than the way they are."
-- Desmond Tutu

"Forgiveness and reconciliation are not just ethereal, spiritual, other-worldly activities. They have to do with the real world. They are realpolitik, because in a very real sense, without forgiveness, there is no future."
-- Desmond Tutu

* Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
-- Mark Twain

* Love is an act of endless forgiveness.
-- Peter Ustinov

Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
-- Oscar Wilde

Sometimes I see myself fine, sometimes I need a witness. And I like the whole truth, but there are nights I only need forgiveness.
-- Dar Williams

* The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.
-- Marianne Williamson

Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.
-- Marianne Williamson

The first step in forgiveness is the willingness to forgive.
-- Marianne Williamson

Our past is a story existing only in our minds. Look, analyze, understand, and forgive. Then, as quickly as possible, chuck it.
-- Marianne Williamson

"If I hold a grudge because I'm angry, I feel strong. But to set that anger aside takes real strength."
-- Everett L. Worthington, Jr.

"Until recently, the tools of science have not been employed to investigate forgiveness. The new wave of research we've begun, however, has the potential to reveal the profound value of forgiveness in our lives -- information that could reduce human misery and increase the quality of life worldwide."
-- Everett L. Worthington, Jr.

Remember, a chip on the shoulder is a sure sign of wood higher up.
-- Brigham Young

Reconciliation Day - April 2
Forgiveness Day
- First Sunday in August

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Kids | Youth | Adults | Calendar | Quotes | Heroes | Stories | The EMILY Fund | Scholarships
DO ONE THING and BetterWorld Kids Clubs are projects of The EMILY Fund (The Emily Silverstein Fund, Inc.)
Hero portraits are included for illustration purposes only - no celebrity endorsement implied

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