Tired of letting anger from past mistakes, hurtful breakups, toxic family relationships, or hurtful lies occupy space in your heart and mind? There’s extraordinary healing power in taking steps to forgive somebody, or even yourself. If you find yourself asking for words of wisdom on how to take that step, these forgiveness quotes from leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King will inspire you to move on. Here is a collection of the best forgiveness quotes . I hope they will help you to forgive, let go and move on from hurt, resentment and anger. Away from feelings that may drag you down and thoughts that can slowly poison you and your outlook on life.
Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.
Desmond Tutu
There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.
Bryant H. McGill
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
Mark Twain
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
Lewis B. Smedes
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Mahatma Gandhi
Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde
The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.
Thomas Szasz
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
Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours.
Phillips Brooks
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
Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.
William Arthur Ward
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
It’s not an easy journey, to get to a place where you forgive people. But it is such a powerful place, because it frees you.
Tyler Perry
Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another.
Emma Goldman
Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.
Roberto Assagioli
When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.
Katherine Ponder
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.
Saint Augustine
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
How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself.
Publilius Syrus
To understand somebody else as a human being, I think, is about as close to real forgiveness as one can get.
David Small
When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.
Catherine Ponder
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
Paul Boose
The act of forgiveness takes place in our own mind. It really has nothing to do with the other person.
Louise Hay
Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde
We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends.
Sir. Francis Bacon
Most of us can forgive and forget; we just don’t want the other person to forget that we forgave.
Ivern Ball
To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.
Robert Muller
Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.
Anne Lamott
Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another.
Emma Goldman
Let us forgive each other – only then will we live in peace.
Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy
True forgiveness is when you can say, “Thank you for that experience
Oprah Winfrey
Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.
Marlene Dietrich
Forgiveness is a sign that the person who has wronged you means more to you than the wrong they have dealt.
Ben Greenhalgh
Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.
Will Smith
The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.
Thomas Szasz
Forgiveness isn’t approving what happened. It’s choosing to rise above it.
Robin Sharma
If you can’t forgive and forget, pick one.
Robert Brault
Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.
Marvin J. Ashton
To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.
Confucius
Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.
Nelson Mandela
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Mahatma Gandhi
Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.
Roberto Assagioli
Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.
Marvin J. Ashton
Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge.
Isaac Friedmann
True forgiveness is not an action after the fact, it is an attitude with which you enter each moment.
David Ridge
Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.
Tony Robbins
Forgiveness is like faith. You have to keep reviving it.
Mason Cooley
We are not perfect, forgive others as you would want to be forgiven.
Catherine Pulsifer
Forgiveness eliminates the wounds of the past from the mind and the heart.
Iyanla Vanzant
Real forgiveness is a lifelong commitment. You must practise it everyday.
Richard Daly
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
Jesus died so we humans can find mercy and forgiveness.
Lee Summer,
If you do not practice empathy and forgiveness for your actions, it will be impossible to practice empathy with others.
Laura Raskin
The forgiveness of sins extended to Christians by God is a wonderful blessing but it does not give one a license to sin.
When a partner does make a mistake, it isn’t acceptable for the other partner to dwell on it and constantly remind the spouse of the mistake. Forgiveness can make a marriage whole again.
Elijah Davidson
We should never be surprised when God keeps His word to forgive those who confess their sins.
R. C. Sproul
He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for every one has need to be forgiven.
George Herbert
The hardest thing in life is to forgive. But hate is self-destructive. If you hate somebody you’re not hurting the person you hate, you’re hurting yourself. Forgiveness is healing.
Louis Zamperini
One always begins to forgive a place as soon as it’s left behind.
Charles Dickens
Because forgiving someone for what they said or did isn’t always easy – it can in my experience honestly be one of the harder things one can do – but it can also set you free and be something you need to do for no one but yourself to be able to fully move on with your life.
If hope gives you wings, forgiveness will often be what you will need to get off the ground. As an aspect of resilience and a measure of psychological flexibility, forgiveness is best cultivated as an ongoing practice. It is often difficult to foresee what transgressions or old triggers can make us feel resentful and angry, so it helps to apply the balm of forgiveness as a preventive measure, as a form of investing in yourself and a more peaceful future.