Forgiveness Quotes

When the vastness of God meets the restriction of our own humanity, words can’t hold it. The best we can do is find the moments that rhyme with this expansive heart of God.

Greg Boyle SJ


Human beings can’t demonize people they know. Put enemies together. Say, baking bread. And humans can’t sustain animosity. Impossible.

Greg Boyle SJ


Compassion is not a relationship between the wounded and the healer. It’s a covenant between equals.

 Greg Boyle SJ


Kinship: not serving the other, but being one with the other.

Greg Boyle SJ


Ours is a God who waits. Who are we not to? It takes what it takes for the great turnaround. Wait for it.

Greg Boyle SJ


Redemption is possible and it is the measure of a civilized society.

Greg Boyle SJ


Compassion is the radicalism of our time

Dali Lama


The more motivated you are by love, the more fearless and free your actions will be.

Dali Lama


Change only takes place through action, not through meditation or prayer alone.

Dali Lama


Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.

Dali Lama


Don’t let the actions of others destroy your inner peace.

Dali Lama


But in the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that transform oppressors into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring miracles in the hearts of men.

Martin Luther King


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

Abraham Lincoln


Kindness is the only service that will stand the storm of life and not wash out.

Abraham Lincoln


The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attitude of the strong.

Mohandas Gandhi


In a world so torn by rivalry, anger, and hate, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge divisions and heal all wounds.

Henri Nouwen


Every human being is worth more than the worst thing they’ve ever done.  All life has dignity, guilty life too.

Helen Prejean


The purpose of human life is to show compassion and the will to help others.

Albert Schweitzer


There is a strength, a power even, in understanding brokenness, because embracing our brokenness creates a need and desire for mercy, and perhaps a corresponding need to show mercy. When you experience mercy, you learn things that are hard to learn otherwise. You see things you can’t otherwise see. You hear things that you can’t otherwise hear. You begin to recognize the humanity that resides in each of us.

Bryan Stevenson


We are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent.

Bryan Stevenson


Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.

Desmond Tutu


Without forgiveness, there is no future.

Desmond Tutu


We may be surprised at the people we see in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.

Desmond Tutu


Forgiveness does not mean condoning what has been done. Forgiving means abandoning your right to pay back the perpetrator in his own coin.

Desmond Tutu


We reach maturity when we are able to love our enemies and to be people of peace.

Jean Vanier


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

Robert Muller


Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

Hannah Arendt


Forgiveness is the final form of love.

Reinhold Niebuhr


When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.

Bernard Meltzer


Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.

Indira Gandhi


It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.

Maya Angelou


All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.

Dalai Lama


To err is human; to forgive, divine.

Alexander Pope


I can have peace of mind only when I forgive rather than judge.

Gerald Jampolsky


Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.

George MacDonald


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


Forgiveness is God’s command.

Martin Luther


The remedy for life’s broken pieces is not classes, workshops or books. Don’t try to heal the broken pieces. Just forgive.

Iyanla Vanzant


When you hold resentment toward another, you are to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve the link and get free.

Catherine Ponder


Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

Hannah Arendt


Forgiveness is a funny thing.  It warms the heart and cools the sting.

William Ward

 

Scripture

Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Luke 6:37


Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.

Colossians 3:13


As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us.

Psalms 103:12


Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’

Acts 2:38


We are all broken by something. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. We all share the condition of brokenness even if our brokenness is not equivalent.

Bryan Stevenson