Each of the following inspirational forgiveness quotes is overflowing with wisdom, life lessons, and knowledge. All you need is a couple of minutes out of your day, and you can make different or better choices depending on what you learn.
Reading deep quotes about forgiveness can help you change your perspective. They encompass nearly every aspect that makes up our day-to-day lives.
Thanks to all the distractions around us today, it’s easy to lose focus of what really matters in our lives. Sometimes all we need a reminder. To help you make the most of your life, below is our collection of motivational, wise, and thought-provoking forgiveness quotes:
Famous Forgiveness Quotes
If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive. Mother Teresa
You’ll never know how strong your heart is until you learn to forgive who broke it. Anonymous
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much. Oscar Wilde
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. Lewis B. Smedes
How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself. Publilius Syrus
When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive. Alan Paton
Forgiveness is a little thing when love is there. Donna Jo Napoli
It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We need to learn from our errors and move on. Steve Maraboli
Holding a grudge doesn’t make you strong; it makes you bitter. Forgiving doesn’t make you weak; it sets you free. Dave Willis
The true mark of maturity is when somebody hurts you and you try to understand their situation instead of trying to hurt them back. Anonymous
If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive. Mother Theresa
Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting. William A. Ward
Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours. Phillip Brooks
Forgiveness isn’t approving what happened. It’s choosing to rise above it. Robin Sharma
The act of forgiveness takes place in our own mind. It really has nothing to do with the other person. Louise Hay
I wish for you the wisdom to realize that forgiveness has nothing to do with an apology. Steve Maraboli
Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting, it means choosing to remember love instead. Kyle Gray
The man who opts for revenge should dig two graves. Chinese Proverb
One of the most courageous decisions you’ll ever make is to finally let go of what is hurting your heart and soul. Anonymous
There is nothing more classy or powerful than showing forgiveness and grace to someone who does not deserve it. Anonymous
Surely it is much more generous to forgive and remember than to forgive and forget. Maria Edgeworth, An Essay on the Noble Science of Self-Justification
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Mahatma Gandhi
There is a nobility is compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness. John Connolly
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future. Lewis B. Smedes
True forgiveness is when you can say, ‘Thank you for that experience.’ Oprah Winfrey
Inspirational Forgiveness Quotes
Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting. William Arthur Ward
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
There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love. Bryant H. Mcgill
How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours. Wayne Dyer
Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward. C.S. Lewis
It all begins with forgiveness because to heal the world, we first have to heal ourselves. And to heal the kids, we first have to heal the child within, each and every one of us. Michael Jackson
Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God. Anonymous
Forgiveness is the needle that knows how to mend. Jewel, Under the Water
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. Paul Lewis Boese
Today I decided to forgive you. Not because you apologized, or because you acknowledged the pain you caused me, but because my soul deserves peace. Najwa Zebian
The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward. Dr. Steve Maraboli
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
Forgiveness has nothing to do with absolving a criminal of his crime. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim–letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor. C.R. Strahan
Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal. C.S. Lewis
How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours. Wayne Dyer
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. Mark Twain
Everybody makes mistakes. If you can’t forgive others, don’t expect others to forgive you. Anonymous
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
Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward. C.S. Lewis
I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him. C.S. Lewis
The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget. Thomas Szasz
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. Martin Luther King, Jr., A Gift of Love
In the shadow of my hurt, forgiveness feels like a decision to reward my enemy. But in the shadow of the cross, forgiveness is merely a gift from one undeserving soul to the next. Andy Stanley
People hurt each other. It happens to everyone intentionally, unintentionally, regretfully or not. It’s a part of what we do as people. The beauty is that we have the ability to heal and forgive. Adi Alsaid
Forgiveness is not about the past, but the future. Anne Michaels
Short Forgiveness Quotes
Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness. H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it’s such a powerful weapon. Nelson Mandela
As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning. Criss Jami, Killosophy
Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, because hate in your heart will consume you too. Will Smith
Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge. Edward Hubbell Chapin
Take forgiveness slowly. Don’t blame yourself for being slow. Peace will come. Yoko Ono
Compassion and forgiveness are signs of strength. Anonymous
Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. Cherie Carter-Scott
Arguments drag out because one is too stubborn to forgive and the other is too proud to apologize. Anonymous
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-just like it does for you and me. Sara Paddison
Forgiveness is a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on. Dr. Steve Maraboli
You either get bitter or you get better. It’s that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate, it belongs to you. Josh Shipp
Forgiveness keeps you from being bound by something the other person might never set right. Tony Evans
Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive. Wm. Paul Young
The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget. Thomas Szasz
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve
None of us should be defined by the worst thing we’ve ever done. Kevin R. Duncan
To err is human; to forgive, divine. Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
Hating someone makes them important. Forgiving hem makes them obsolete. Anonymous
Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against natural instinct to pay back evil with evil. Pope John Paul II
Always forgive, but never forget, else you will be a prisoner of your own hatred, and doomed to repeat your mistakes forever. Wil Zeus
As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison. Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
I don’t think people understand that you can forgive a person and not allow them back into your life. That is possible, very possible. Alex Elle
I want to be the kind of person who can do that. Move on and forgive people and be healthy and happy. It seems like an easy thing to do in my head. But it’s not so easy when you try it in real life. Susane Colasanti, Waiting for You
There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love. Bryant H. Mcgill
Deep Forgiveness Quotes
The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world. Marianne Williamson
We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward. Alison Croggon
Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. Hannah Arendt
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. Lewis B. Smedes
I guess forgiveness, like happiness, isn’t a final destination. You don’t one day get there and get to stay. Deb Caletti
Somehow, forgiveness accomplishes miracles that can happen in no other way. Gordon B. Hinckley
It’s OK if you fall down and lose your spark. Just make sure that when you get back up, you rise as the whole damn fire. Colette Werden
Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you are. Cherie Carter-Scott
To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless. G.K. Chesterton
Relationships don’t thrive because the guilty are punished, but because the wounded are merciful. Max Lucado
The man who forgives is far stronger than the man who fights. Nathan Caroll
“I wish for you the wisdom to realize that forgiveness has nothing to do with an apology. Steve Maraboli
Can I be forgiven for all I’ve done to get here? I want to be. I can. I believe it. Veronica Roth
Forgiveness doesn’t excuse their behavior. Forgiveness prevents their behavior from destroying your heart. Anonymous
Forgiving isn’t something you do for someone else. It’s something you do for yourself. Jodi Picoult
He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass. George Herbert
As long as you don’t forgive, who and whatever it is will occupy a rent-free space in your mind. Isabelle Holland
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. Abraham Lincoln
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Mahatma Gandhi
Until we have seen someone’s darkness, we don’t really know who they are. Until we have forgiven someone’s darkness, we don’t really know what love is. Marianne Williamson
Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies. Nelson Mandela
Hate has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet. Maya Angelou
I don’t think people understand that you can forgive a person and not allow them back into your life. That is possible, very possible. Alex Elle
Relationships don’t thrive because the guilty are punished, but because the wounded are merciful. Max Lucado
Forgiveness keeps you from being bound by something the other person might never set right. Tony Evans