100 Quotes About Forgiveness

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. Ellen Goodman

When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines upon you. Jon Krakauer

Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family. Henri J.m. Nouwen

Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy. But sometimes under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots keeping itself alive. Paulo Coelho

I'll understand if you don't want me. But I will be heartbroken. You are all I ever dreamed of and hoped for. You are much, much more. Please know that I didn't think I was mean-minded. But I realize I am. I don't want you to put your arms around me and say it's all right, that you forgive me. I want you to be sure that you do, and my love for you will last as long as I live. I can see no lightness, no humour, no joke to make. I just hope that we will be able to go back to when we had laughter, and the world was coloured, not black and white and grey. I am so sorry for hurting you. I could inflict all kinds of pain on myself, but it would not take back any I gave to you. - David Power. Maeve Binchy

What is it the I'll want from you? Not love: that would be too much to ask. Not forgiveness, which isn't yours to bestow. Only a listener, perhaps; only someone who will see me. Don't prettify me though, whatever else you do: I have no wish to be a decorated skull. But I leave myself in your hands. What choice do I have? By the time you read this last page, that- if anywhere- is the only place I will be. Margaret Atwood

Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient. Steve Maraboli

Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day's chalking. Frederick Buechner

It's like this old patchwork quilt my momma used to have.. Each piece on that quilt meant something. And some of those pieces were the damn ugliest things you've ever seen.. But some of the pieces were so beautiful they almost hurt my eyes to look at when I was a kid.. That's the best you can hope for, Danny. That your life turns out like that patchwork quilt. That you can add some bright, sparkling pieces to the dirty, stained ones you have so far. That in the end, the bright patches might take up more space on your quilt than the dark ones. Brooke McKinley

So we forgive each other?" The crooked smile climbs up one more time. "Again?"And I look right into his eyes, right into him as far as I can see, because I want him to hear me, I want him to hear me with everything I mean and feel and say." Always, " I say to him. "Every time. Patrick Ness

With time and perspective we recognize that such problems in life do come for a purpose, if only to allow the one who faces such despair to be convinced that he really does need divine strength beyond himself, that she really does need the offer of heaven’s hand. Those who feel no need for mercy usually never seek it and almost never bestow it. Those who have never had a heartache or a weakness or felt lonely or forsaken never have had to cry unto heaven for relief of such personal pain. Surely it is better to find the goodness of God and the grace of Christ, even at the price of despair, than to risk living our lives in a moral or material complacency that has never felt any need for faith or forgiveness, any need for redemption or relief. . Jeffery R. Holland

God's grace is not defined as God being forgiving to us even though we sin. Grace is when God is a source of wholeness, which makes up for my failings. My failings hurt me and others and even the planet, and God's grace to me is that my brokenness is not the final word. . it's that God makes beautiful things out of even my own shit. Grace isn't about God creating humans and flawed beings and then acting all hurt when we inevitably fail and then stepping in like the hero to grant us grace - like saying, "Oh, it's OK, I'll be the good guy and forgive you." It's God saying, "I love the world too much to let your sin define you and be the final word. I am a God who makes all things new. Nadia BolzWeber

Do not forget, do not ever forget, that you have promised me to use the money to make yourself an honest man.' Valjean, who did not recall having made any promise, was silent. The bishop had spoken the words slowly and deliberately. He concluded with a solemn emphasis: Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to what is evil but to what is good. I have bought your soul to save it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God. . Victor Hugo

A Short TestamentWhatever harm I may have done In all my life in all your wide creation If I cannot repair it I beg you to repair it, And then there are all the wounded The poor the deaf the lonely and the old Whom I have roughly dismissed As if I were not one of them. Where I have wronged them by it And cannot make amends I ask you To comfort them to overflowing, And where there are lives I may have withered around me, Or lives of strangers far or near That I've destroyed in blind complicity, And if I cannot find them Or have no way to serve them, Remember them. I beg you to remember them When winter is over And all your unimaginable promises Burst into song on death's bare branches. Anne Porter

There is nothing noble about suffering except the love and forgiveness with which we meet it. Many believe that if they are suffering they are closer to God, but I have met very few who could keep their heart open to their suffering enough for that to be true. (124) Stephen Levine

In a recent interview, General Norman Schwartzkof was asked if he thought there was room for forgiveness toward the people who have harboured and abetted the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on America. His answer..." I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is simply to arrange the meeting. Norman Schwarzkopf

No, I don't believe it, " Joseph said. "From listening to my father and grandfather talk about El Shaddai, I think he's different from the gods of Egypt. I think that none of us could ever be good enough for God. I think of Him as being so good that a human can't even enter His presence. A man would die if he did. I think God's merciful, Rashidi. I think he forgives us because he loves us, just as we forgive our children because we love them. "Rashidi's eyes brightened. "A God that loves people! Now there's a new thought! . Gilbert Morris

The forgiveness of God is gratuitous liberation from guilt. Paradoxically, the conviction of personal sinfulness becomes the occasion of encounter with the merciful love of the redeeming God. "There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting.." (Luke 15:7). In his brokenness, the repentant prodigal knew an intimacy with his father that his sinless, self-righteous brother would never know. . Brennan Manning

Be gentle and forbearing with one another and, if one has a difference(a grievance or complaint) against another, readily pardoning each other; even as the Lord has [freely] forgiven you, so must you also [forgive]. ( Colossians 3:13 ) Joyce Meyer

…she had nothing to do but to forgive herself and be happier than ever… Jane Austen

What are you doing?”“ What does it look like? I’m getting down on my knees.” His head butted against her stomach. Her muscles clenched, shocked at the touch, even through the layer of cotton.“ I’ve never begged a woman for anything before. Enjoy this.” She tried to think of something sufficiently sassy. “Enjoy it? I can’t even see it.”“ It’s symbolic. Alisha Rai

I remember every good thing about you. Every sweet and perfect thing. And nothing else.” He touched her chin, tipped it up to look into her wet brown eyes. Even smudged, they were gorgeous. The dawning light in them filled his heart, and healed it. “Nothing else. V.S. Carnes

We can ast for comfort and hope and patience and courage .. . and we’ll git what we ast for. They ain’t no gar’ntee thet we ain’t go’n have no troubles and ain’t go’n die. But shore as frogs croak and cows bellow, God’ll forgive us if’n we ast Him to. Olive Ann Burns

I hope you defy the odds of most dreams and actually accomplish yours Colleen Hoover

For myself I think that one wrong does not right the other, and forgiveness cannot be won with useless tears or alms to the Church. Unknown

Stop dwelling and wishing they'd see the light and treat you better. Instead, forgive yourself for keeping low standards, and love yourself enough to raise them. Steve Maraboli

To be forgiven is to be loved Unknown

A wise man once said that the best definition of insanity was performing the same action over and over again, expecting different results." Father Peter stopped smiling. "The same could be said of you. What makes you so sure you're right? And so sure I'm wrong?"" The difference is that I made a mistake once, out of ignorance, " Tim said. "Everything I've done since then has been to try to make amends."" To earn forgiveness."" To protect the innocents." Tim smiled, "And yes, to earn forgiveness. . Robert J. Wiersema

Much of what I learned about forgiveness I learned by inhabiting the lives of my characters. Even villains act with reasonable intent. Mercy is easier with understanding. Still, it helps that on paper I can kill them off. Joyce Rachelle

For I hope my Friends will pardon me, when I declare, I know none of them without a Fault; and I should be sorry if I could imagine, I had any Friend who could not see mine. Forgiveness, of this Kind, we give and demand in Turn. Henry Fielding

Living in the past is always a bad idea; yet, on some level I believe the ones we love, even though not part of our present, are the very definition of who we are, the driving force of what we aspire to be, and at the end of the day, the past we must look to in order to improve who we will become. After all, we do not learn from what has not happened, but what has been, and what we will choose to keep or leave behind. Friendship, true friendship is never blind, but it holds the value of forgiveness - separating what we may or may have not done within the realm of mistakes..seeking the outcome of making us into better people. Tony C. Skye

Sincere forgiveness isn't colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don't worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time. Sara Paddison

Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business. Not to forgive is to yield oneself to another's control.. to be locked into a sequence of act and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating always. The present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. Forgiveness frees the forgiver. It extracts the forgiver from someone else's nightmare. Lance Morrow

Dear God, please take the stains off my heart. If there’s even an ounce of pain I feel that someone caused me in the past, I ask that you wash it away. Give me strength, show me forgiveness is the healthiest option for me, and set me free. I pray you give me peace today and every day, allowing me to totally leave my past behind. In Jesus’s name, I pray, amen. Ron Baratono

Dear Lord, please show me everything I need to understand about forgiveness and surrender Elizabeth Gilbert

Ultimately, we can really forgive people only because Christ rose from the dead; his Resurrection is the guarantee that God can cure every wrong and every hurt. Jacques Philippe

Forgiveness is the fastest way to a spiritual path and inner peace of mind Muhaya Haji Mohamad

In this life, you only need to do this much: You must know that the other person is instrument (nimit, in bringing you the results of your own karmas) so you must remain silent. Do not let the mind spoil in the slightest. If it does, then ask for forgiveness: ‘Dear Instrument! You are simply an instrument. I ask for forgiveness for spoiling my mind.’ You have to do only this much! That is the effort [purusharth]!. Dada Bhagwan

Resentments make even the best of us feel superior. Anne Lamott