Forgiveness Quotes

"It’s toughest to forgive ourselves. So it’s probably best to start with other people. It’s almost like peeling an onion. Layer by layer, forgiving others, you really do get to the point where you can forgive yourself."

- Patty Duke

"As we know, forgiveness of oneself is the hardest of all the forgivenesses."

- Joan Baez

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."

- Paul Boese

"Let's shake free this gravity of judgment, and fly high on the wings of forgiveness."

- India Arie Simpson

"Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge,"

- Edwin Hubbell Chapin

"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."

- Catherine Ponder

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Life is too short. I forgive and forget. I have not time to get mad or hate."

- Debasish Mridha

"Forgotten is forgiven."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Forgiveness is not to give the other person peace. Forgiveness is for you. Take that opportunity."

- Mackenzie Phillips

"Just knowing you don’t have the answers is a recipe for humility, openness, acceptance, forgiveness, and an eagerness to learn – and those are all good things."

- Dick van Dyke

"Holding a grudge doesn’t make you strong; it makes you bitter. Forgiving doesn’t make you weak; it sets you free."

- Dave Willis

"Forgiveness is for you—not the other person. It’s something you do inside yourself that you feel in your body and heart that releases you from your past and frees you to live life fully."

- Barbara J. Hunt

"Don’t ever underestimate the power of forgiveness. I’ve seen it free people. I’ve seen it lift burdens that had weighed them down and kept them from moving on."

- Buffy Andrews

"Forgiveness will not be possible until compassion is born in your heart."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

"Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge."

- Isaac Friedmann

"Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself."

- Harriet Nelson

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

- Oscar Wilde

"Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."

- Mark Twain

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

- Roberto Assagioli

"The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself."

- Confucius

"Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil; With them forgive yourself."

- William Shakespeare

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

- Cherie Carter-Scott

"If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others?"

- Dolores Huerta

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

- Lawana Blackwell

"The hatred you're carrying is a live coal in your heart - far more damaging to yourself than to them."

- Lawana Blackwell

"Life is an adventure in forgiveness."

- Norman Cousins

"A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her...but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account."

- W. Somerset Maugham

"Pray you now, forget and forgive."

- William Shakespeare

"It is easier to get forgiveness than permission."