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Forgiveness Quotes and Quotations
 How we remember, what we remember, and why we remember form the most personal map of our individuality.  Reconciliation is more beautiful than victory. The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive, but do not forget. Forgetting is the cost of living cheerfully. Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. "I can forgive, but I cannot forget" is only another way of saying, "I will not forgive." Forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note-torn in two and burned up so that it never can be shown against one. Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrong. Anger repressed can poison a relationship as surely as the crudest words. Forgiveness means letting go of the past. I know now that patriotism is not enough; I must have no hatred and bitterness toward anyone. Stretch out your hand! Let no human soul wait for a benediction. Nobody ever forgets where he buried a hatchet. Anger as soon as fed is dead, 'tis starving makes it fat. Once a woman has forgiven a man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast. There's no point in burying a hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site. As long as you don't forgive, who and whatever it is will occupy a rent-free space in your mind. Courage and clemency are equal virtues. One may have been a fool, but there's no foolishness like being bitter. Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence. Once a woman has forgiven a man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast. Keeping score of old scores and scars, getting even and one-upping, always make you less than you are. Forgiveness is all-powerful. Forgiveness heals all ills. The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. Who understands much, forgives much. Forgiveness is the act of admitting we are like other people. Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes this void. Know all and you will pardon all. People are more than the worst thing they have ever done in their lives. The secret of forgiving everything is to understand nothing. Speak not against anyone whose burden you have not weighed yourself. Nothing's easier than believing we understand experiences we've never had. The heart has always the pardoning power. To understand is to forgive, even oneself. To what extent is any given man morally responsible for any given act? We do not know. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Only the brave know how to forgive. ... A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature. Any man can seek revenge; it takes a king or prince to grant a pardon. To be angry about trifles is mean and childish; to rage and be furious is brutish; and to maintain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and temper of devils; but to prevent and suppress rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly and divine. Hatred is a death wish for the hated, not a life wish for anything else. Hatred is a passion requiring one hundred times the energy of love. Keep it for a cause, not an individual. Keep it for intolerance, injustice, stupidity. For hatred is the strength of the sensitive. Its power and its greatness depend on the selflessness of its use. Resentment is the "number one" offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. To oppose something is to maintain it. Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to its power. To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee. Resentments are burdens we don't need to carry. The enslaver is enslaved, the hater, harmed. By putting his hand around my neck, he slowly strangled himself. The one who deals the mortal blow receives the mortal wound. Without forgiveness life is governed ... by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation. Malice drinks one-half of its own poison. I tell you, there is no such thing as creative hate! Reject hatred without hating. Hate would destroy him who hated. In hatred as in love, we grow like the thing we brood upon. What we loathe, we graft into our very soul. Resentment is weak and lowers your self-esteem. Hate is a prolonged form of suicide. Hatred is like fire-it makes even light rubbish deadly. You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. Hate is all a lie, there is no truth in hate. Hate is not a good counselor. Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it. If the will remains in protest, it stays dependent on that which it is protesting against. Hate smolders and eventually destroys, not the hated but the hater. It is almost impossible to throw dirt on someone without getting a little on yourself. If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. Fire destroys that which feeds it. You cannot hate other people without hating yourself. Whom they have injured, they also hate. Rage and bitterness do not foster femininity. They harden the heart and make the body sick. I used to store my anger and it affected my play. Now I get it out. I'm never rude to my playing partner. I'm very focused on the ball. Then it's over. Anger is a short madness. - Horace My mother used to say, "He who angers you conquers you." The angry people are those people who are most afraid. Anger as soon as fed is dead, 'tis starving makes it fat. Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools. Anger and worry are the enemies of clear thought. Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha Anger is a killing thing: it kills the man who angers, for each rage leaves him less than he had been before-it takes something from him. Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed, on swallowing, warm and racy; its after-flavor, metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned. Revenge could steal a man's life until there was nothing left but emptiness. Revenge may not be a particularly high consciousness-oriented activity. The human heart in its perversity finds it hard to escape hatred and revenge. A man can lose sight of everything else when he's bent on revenge, and it ain't worth it. The whole human race loses by every act of personal vengeance. Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. One forgives to the degree that one loves. One is as one is, and the love that can't encompass both is a poor sort of love. Forgiveness is the final form of love. The days are too short even for love; how can there be enough time for quarreling? Forgiveness is the most tender part of love. The best proof of love is trust. Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry, or because they remain intrigued with each other, because of many kindnesses, because of luck. ... But part of it has got to be forgiveness and gratefulness. For me it's not possible to forget, and I don't understand people who, when the love is ended, can bury the other person in hatred or oblivion. For me, a man I have loved becomes a kind of brother. Today I forgive all those who have ever offended me. I give my love to all thirsty hearts, both to those who love me and to those who do not love me. Experience is how life catches up with us and teaches us to love and forgive each other. We never ask God to forgive anybody except when we haven't. Forgiveness is God's command. God will forgive me, that is His business. God will forgive me the foolish remarks I have made about Him just as I will forgive my opponents the foolish things they have written about me, even though they are spiritually as inferior to me as I to thee, O God! Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. - Bible I have looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. God recognizes I will do this and forgives me. How Forgiveness Helps Us 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 again made clean. Forgiveness is all-powerful. Forgiveness heals all ills. Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. - Buddha I can have peace of mind only when I forgive rather than judge. The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good. Judge not, that ye be not judged. - Bible It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. Forgiving those who hurt us is the key to personal peace. Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself. To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness. Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. Forgiveness is the way to true health and happiness. Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another. Those who can't forget are worse off than those who can't remember. Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again. I can pardon everybody's mistakes except my own. If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others? The moment an individual can accept and forgive himself, even a little, is the moment in which he becomes to some degree lovable. They may not deserve forgiveness, but I do. I forgive myself for having believed for so long that... I was never good enough to have, get, be what I wanted. How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself. I learned that true forgiveness includes total self-acceptance. And out of acceptance wounds are healed and happiness is possible again. Every man treats himself as society treats the criminal. To understand is to forgive, even oneself. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. - Bible He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven. Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much. Forgiveness is the noblest vengeance. There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness. Many promising reconciliations have broken down because while both parties came prepared to forgive, neither party came prepared to be forgiven. Forgiveness is man's deepest need and highest achievement. Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans! Her breasts and arms ached with the beauty of her own forgiveness. Life is an adventure in forgiveness. The cut worm forgives the plow. Forgiveness is the highest and most difficult of all moral lessons. The fragrance of the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. How shall I love the sin, yet keep the sense, And love the offender, yet detest the offence? Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life. Who would care to question the ground of forgiveness or compassion? O friends, I pray tonight, Keep not your kisses for my dead cold brow. The way is lonely; let me feel them now. Think gently of me; I am travel-worn, My faltering feet are pierced with many a thorn. Forgive! O hearts estranged, forgive, I plead! When ceaseless bliss is mine I shall not need The tenderness for which I long tonight. Let us forget and forgive injuries. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend. It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own. When you pray for anyone you tend to modify your personal attitude toward him. Forgiving means to pardon the unpardonable, faith means believing the unbelievable, and hoping means to hope when things are hopeless. To err is human; to forgive, divine. Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return. The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are. Good heavens, of what uncostly material is our earthly happiness composed ... if we only knew it. What incomes have we not had from a flower, and how unfailing are the dividends of the seasons. Be on the lookout for mercies. The more we look for them, the more of them we will see.... Better to loose count while naming your blessings than to lose your blessings to counting your troubles. The man who thinks his wife, his baby, his house, his horse, his dog, and himself severely unequalled, is almost sure to be a good-humored person. Every dog has its day, but it's not every dog that knows when he's having it. We must give ourselves more earnestly and intelligently and generously than we have to the happy duty of appreciation. There is nothing so bitter that a patient mind cannot find some solace for it. I thank You God for this most amazing day; for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes. My private measure of success is daily. If this were to be the last day of my life would I be content with it? To live in a harmonious balance of commitments and pleasures is what I strive for. Yes, there is a Nirvanah: it is in leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem. Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting. That daily life is really good one appreciates when one wakes from a horrible dream, or when one takes the first outing after a sickness. Why not realize it now? Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do which must be done, whether you like it or not. When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive. Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons. We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation. When something does not insist on being noticed, when we aren't grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull by a presence or an event, we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. Why do some people always see beautiful skies and grass and lovely flowers and incredible human beings, while others are hard-pressed to find anything or any place that is beautiful? Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. My country ... gave me schooling, independence of action and opportunity for service. ... I am indebted to my country beyond any human power to repay. Dwell upon the brightest parts in every prospect... and strive to be pleased with the present circumstances. We are never either so wretched or so happy as we say we are. The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life. Is life so wretched? Isn't it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddled? You are the one who must grow up. Looking for Silver Linings Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments. Most of my major disappointments have turned out to be blessings in disguise. So whenever anything bad does happen to me, I kind of sit back and feel, well, if I give this enough time, it'll turn out that this was good, so I shan't worry about it too much. Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't make. The advantages of a losing team: (i) There is everything to hope for and nothing to fear, (2.) Defeats do not disturb one's sleep. (3) An occasional victory is a surprise and a delight. (4) There is no danger of any club passing you. (5) You are not asked fifty times a day, "What was the score?"; people take it for granted that you lost. That which does not kill me makes me stronger. Not being beautiful was the true blessing. ... Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome. The difficulties, hardships and trials of life, the obstacles ... are positive blessings. They knit the muscles more firmly, and teach self-reliance. Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away hunger. Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes. Adversity has the same effect on a man that severe training has on the pugilist: it reduces him to his fighting weight. You will never be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life. God brings men into deep waters not to drown them, but to cleanse them. - Aughey Some troubles, like a protested note of a solvent debtor, bear interest. Failure changes for the better, success for the worse. The basis of optimism is sheer terror. No evil is without its compensation ... it is not the loss itself, but the estimate of the loss, that troubles us. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course. Give thanks for sorrow that teaches you pity; for pain that teaches you courage-and give exceeding thanks for the mystery which remains a mystery still-the veil that hides you from the infinite, which makes it possible for you to believe in what you cannot see. A Christian could even give thanks for Hell, because Hell was a threat and a warning to keep him in the right way. To every disadvantage there is a corresponding advantage. Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold. If you count all your assets, you always show a profit. Too happy would you be, did ye but know your own advantages! - Virgil Much unhappiness results from our inability to remember the nice things that happen to us. If we go down into ourselves, we find that we possess exactly what we desire. Be grateful for yourself... be thankful. Keep a grateful journal. Every night, list five things that you are grateful for. What it will begin to do is change your perspective of your day and your life. There is no wealth but life. Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy. Life may be hard, but it's also wonderful. I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, and to work, and to play and to look up at the stars. To be alive, to be able to see, to walk ... it's all a miracle. I have adapted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle. This is another day! Are its eyes blurred With maudlin grief for any wasted past? A thousand thousand failures shall not daunt! Let dust clasp dust, death, death; I am alive! The mere sense of living is joy enough. However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in Paradise. Love your life. Life is the first gift, love is the second, and understanding the third. To have a full stomach and fixed income are no small things . For one mother, joy is the quiet pleasure found in gently rubbing shampoo into her young child's hair. For another woman it's taking a long walk alone, while for yet another it's reveling in a much-anticipated vacation. How can they say my life is not a success? Have I not for more than sixty years gotten enough to eat and escaped being eaten? Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things. - Horace My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I'm grateful for it the way I'm grateful for the ocean. Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done? When something does not insist on being noticed, when we aren't grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull by a presence or an event, we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink. Thank God for dirty dishes; they have a tale to tell. While other folks go hungry, we're eating pretty well. With home, and health, and happiness, we shouldn't want to fuss; For by this stack of evidence, God's very good to us. It is strange what a contempt men have for the joys that are offered them freely. Grateful for the blessing lent of simple tastes and mind content! An easy t |