Forgiveness Quotes

"I believe 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

"Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation."

- Roberto Assagioli

"Forgiveness is a strange thing. It can sometimes be easier to forgive our enemies than our friends. It can be hardest of all to forgive people we love."

- Fred Rogers

"Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against natural instinct to pay back evil with evil."

- Pope John Paul II

"Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours."

- Phillips Brooks

"I learned a long time ago that some people would rather die than forgive. It’s a strange truth, but forgiveness is a painful and difficult process. It’s not something that happens overnight. It’s an evolution of the heart."

- Sue Monk Kidd

"Forgiveness is a sign that the person who has wronged you means more to you than the wrong they have dealt."

- Ben Greenhalgh

"Surely it is much more generous to forgive and remember, than to forgive and forget."

- Maria Edgeworth

"Forgiveness isn't approving what happened. It's choosing to rise above it."

- Robin Sharma

"By having a forgiving attitude, you can change your life and the lives of the people you care about most."

- Kathie M. Thomson

"Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness; those are life-altering lessons."

- Jessica Lange

"I like second chances. I’ve given people second chances. You have fall-outs with friends, and forgiveness is a great thing to have. It’s not easy to forgive. I definitely don’t forget, but I do forgive."

- Odette Annable

"Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much."

- Oscar Wilde

"You can't forgive without loving. And I don't mean sentimentality. I don't mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, 'I forgive. I'm finished with it'."

- Maya Angelou

"Thankfully, forgiveness, and the healing it brings in its wake, has nothing to do with ‘deserve.'"

- Eric Metaxas

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

- Alan Paton

"Forgiving isn't something you do for someone else. It's something you do for yourself. It's saying 'You're not important enough to have a stranglehold on me.' It's saying, 'You don't get to trap me in the past. I am worthy of a future'."

- Jodi Picoult

"If one by one we counted people out / For the least sin, it wouldn't take us long / To get so we had no one left to live with. / For to be social is to be forgiving."

- Robert Frost

"Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another."

- Emma Goldman

"Forgiveness is not weak. It takes courage to face and overcome powerful emotions."

- Desmond Tutu

"Though I was unaware of it at the time, that simple act of forgiveness was the beginning of an entirely new level of experiencing life for me."

- Wayne Dyer

"True forgiveness is when you can say 'Thank you for that experience'."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Never forget the nine most important words of any family: I love you. You are beautiful. Please forgive me."

- Jackson Brown Jr.

"I think the first step is to understand that forgiveness does not exonerate the perpetrator. Forgiveness liberates the victim. It's a gift you give yourself."

- T.D. Jakes

"Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you are."

- Cherie Carter-Scott

"To understand somebody else as a human being, I think, is about as close to real forgiveness as one can get."

- David Small

"Reconciliation and forgiveness can actually help all of us move on in a healthier, happier way."

- Chesa Boudin

"How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself."

- Publilius Syrus

"The lesson is that you can still make mistakes and be forgiven."

- Robert Downey Jr.

"When you forgive, you heal. When you let go, you grow."