Forgiveness is a way you seek to help yourself and not others. Here is a collection of some of the best forgiveness quotes, sayings, captions, and status messages to let you know that if you don’t forgive you hurt yourself.
When people break your trust or betray you, it is heartbreaking. You find it difficult to trust them again.
But the suffering of a wound given by others is a burden that we should not carry all our lives. Forgiving people for their wrongs is the best way to free yourself and move on in life.
You free yourself of an emotional burden you carry against a person, relationship, family (mother, father, husband, wife, boyfriend), or an incident in your life.
Forgiving is an art – it’s a way of seeing things in broader aspects of life.
Sometimes it’s hard to forgive your loved ones for cheating, betraying, or other things not expected of them, but it’s even harder to live with it.
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Forgiveness is a powerful act of grace, healing, and self-liberation. Throughout our lives, we encounter moments where forgiveness becomes the bridge to peace and understanding. Whether you’re looking to forgive others or seeking forgiveness for yourself, our collection of ‘forgiveness quotes’ can guide your heart toward reconciliation.
Embracing these words can light your path to inner peace and renewed relationships. Explore and find the wisdom to let go and heal.
Top 10 Forgiveness Quotes
- “I forgive myself and set myself free.” – Louise Hay
- “Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” – Indira Gandhi
- “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” – Alexander Pope
- “Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. – Isaac Friedmann
- “Forgiveness is the final form of love.” – Reinhold Niebuhr
- “If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive.” –Mother Teresa
- “Let us forgive each other – only then will we live in peace.” – Leo Tolstoy
- “Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” – Bruce Lee
- “Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.” – Nelson Mandela
- “It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.” – Maya Angelou
Quotes About Forgiveness
- What is forgiven is usually well remembered.” – Louis Dudek
- “To understand everything is to forgive everything” – Buddha
- “A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.” – Robert Quillen
- “It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend” – William Blake
- “What you do not want to be done to yourself, do not do to others.” – Confucius
- “Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” – Paul Boese
- “Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.” – Anonymous
- “We are not all perfect, forgive others as you would want to be forgiven.” – Unknown
- “Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.” ― Robert Brault
- “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Quotes On Forgiveness
- “You must forgive me, for I struggled only for you.” ― Emily Brontë
- “Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals.” ― Thomas S. Monson
- “Forgiving them isn’t the hard part, it’s trying to trust them again.”― Unknown
- “I had to forgive a person who wasn’t even sorry… that’s strength.”― Unknown
- “Love’s voice reverberates with forgiveness across the room of our heart” ― Munia Khan
- “Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another.”― Emma Goldman
- “You’ll never know how strong your heart is until you learn to forgive who broke it.” ― Unknown
- “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
- “The act of forgiveness takes place in our own mind. It really has nothing to do with the other person.” ― Louise Hay
Forgiveness Quotes
- “Forgiveness frees us and allows us to move on.”– Unknown
- “Forget your past, forgive yourself, and begin again right now.”– Unknown
- “Forgiving you is my gift to you. Moving on is my gift to myself.”– Unknown
- “When a deep injury is done to us, we never heal until we forgive.”– Alan Paton
- “Don’t ruin a good today by thinking about a bad yesterday. Let it go.”– Unknown
- “Remember, when you forgive you heal, and when you let go, you grow.”– Unknown
- “Forgiveness isn’t approving what happened. It’s choosing to rise above it.”– Robin Sharma
- “Forgiveness is a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on.” – Dr. Steve Maraboli
- “Move on, don’t let the little things in life hold you back. Forget, forgive, and move on.”– RVM
- “You can give them another chance, or you can forgive, let go, and give yourself a better chance.”
Inspirational Quotes About Forgiveness
- “Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.” – Oscar Wilde
- “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
- “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” ― Louis B. Smedes
- “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” ― Mark Twain
- Who is there among us who does not prefer tolerance, respect and forgiveness of our failings to bigotry, disrespect, and resentment? ― 14th Dalai Lama
- “We have to remember, when we forgive we’re not doing it just for the other person, we’re doing it for our own good. When we hold on to unforgiveness and we live with grudges in our hearts, all we’re doing is building walls of separation.” ― Joel Osteen
- “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
- “Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge and dares forgive an injury.” ― E.H. Chapin
- “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
Forgiving Quotes
- “Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.” ― William Arthur Ward
- “Some forgive and forget, more forgive and remember, most forgive and remind.”— Robert Breault
- “There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” ― Bryant H. McGill
- “Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.” ― Marlene Dietrich
- “Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you are.” ― Cherie Carter-Scott
- “I think we learn the most from imperfect relationships things like forgiveness and compassion.”— Andrea Thompson
- “Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.” ― Billy Graham
- “Forgiveness is important in families, especially when there are so many secrets that need to be healed – for the most part, every family’s got them.”―Tyler Perry
- “As long as you don’t forgive, who and whatever it is will occupy a rent-free space in your mind.” ― Isabelle Holland
- “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. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.”― Martin Luther King
Love and Forgiveness Quotes
- “You cannot love if you cannot forgive.” ― Kemi Sogunle
- “To love another human in all of her splendor and imperfect perfection, it is a magnificent task… tremendous and foolish and human.” ― Louise Erdrich
- “Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive.” ― William Paul Young
- “Forgiveness is a strange thing. It can sometimes be easier to forgive our enemies than our friends.” ― Fred Rogers
- “By having a forgiving attitude, you can change your life and the lives of the people you care about most.” ― Kathie M. Thomson
- “When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines upon you.” ― Jon Krakauer
- “Appreciate those who love you, help those who need you, forgive those who hurt you, forget those who leave you.” ― Unknown
- “Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.” ― Corrie Ten Boom
- “In Baptism, we are brought into the family of God with the promise that He will always forgive us our sins if we ask Him to.”
- “Leading your family will start with repentance. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve laid on my face in the living room while the family was asleep and asked the Lord to forgive me.”
Forgive and Forget Quotes
Most religion, including the Bible, doesn’t use the phrase “forgive and forget,” but the implied concept is one of continual forgiveness without holding grudges.
- “Forgive to forget.”
- “Forgive, yes. Forget, never.”
- “Accept what is and forget what was.”
- “If you can’t forgive and forget, pick one.”
- “Forgive and forget, not revenge and regret.”
- “To forgive takes love, to forget takes humility.”
- “Forget your past, forgive yourself and begin again.”
- “Forget what hurt you but never forget what it taught you.” – Unknown
- “You forgive people because you still want them in your life.”― Unknown
- “I forgive, but never forget because I never want to be hurt the same way twice.”― Unknown
Forgive Quotes
- “Forgive and forget. It may not change the past but it gives the future a chance.” ― Unknown
- “Always forgive, but never forget. Learn from your mistakes, but never regret.”— Unknown
- “Be careful with your words. Once they are said, they can be only forgiven, not forgotten.”— Carl Sandburg
- “Forgiving someone is easy, but being able to trust them again is a totally different story.”— Unknown
- “Do not let the shadows of your past darken the doorstep of your future. Forgive and Forget.”— Unknown
- “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” ― Thomas Szasz
- “I don’t forgive people because I’m weak. I forgive them because I’m strong enough to know people make mistakes.”― Marilyn Monroe
- “Apologizing does not always mean that you’re wrong and the other person is right. It just means that you value your relationship more than your ego.”― Mark Matthews
- “Forgive them and forget them. Holding onto anger and bitterness consumes you, not them.”― Unknown
- “My plan is to forgive and forget. Forgive myself for being stupid and forget you ever even existed.”― Unknown
- “Everyone makes mistakes. If you can’t forgive others, don’t expect others to forgive you.”― Unknown
Healing Forgive Yourself Quotes
You cannot travel back in time to fix your mistakes, but you can learn from them and forgive yourself for not knowing better. You forgive yourself for every failure because you are trying to do the right thing.
- “The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself.” ― Confucius
- “If you cannot forgive yourself, you cannot forgive others.” ― D. Muthukrishnan
- “Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil; With them forgive yourself.” ― William Shakespeare
- “Forgive yourself. Whatever you’re holding onto or carrying around from the past – let it go.” ― Mel Robbins
- “If I hadn’t forgiven myself, I wouldn’t be strong enough to love someone this much.” ― Dawn Lanuza
- “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.” ― Steve Maraboli
- “Be courageous enough to forgive yourself; never forget to be compassionate to yourself.” ― Debasish Mridha
- “All we have to do is forgive ourselves wholly and completely for ever thinking that we are not good enough!” ― Jodi Aman
- “Forgiving yourself, believing in yourself, and choosing to love yourself are the best gifts one could receive.” ― Brittany Burgunder
- “Forgiveness for ourselves and other is one of the main elements in growth. It allows us to free ourselves of the issues that are holding us down.” ― Nanette Mathews
Quotes on Forgiveness and Let Go of the Past
Forgiveness is an act about letting go of the past, understanding, and moving on. It’s about taking care of your own mental health and setting yourself free from past experiences.
- “It’s far easier to forgive an enemy after you’ve got even with him.” ― Olin Millerà
- “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?” ― Abraham Lincoln
- “The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.” ― Oscar Wilde
- “Everyone says that forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.” ― C. S. Lewis
- “When we allow hate in our hearts, it consumes us. It leaves no room for love. It doesn’t feel good at all. Release it.”― Unknown
- “Forgiveness is a promise not a feeling. When you forgive other people, you are making a promise not to use their past sin against them.” ― Brett
Bible Quotes & Verses about Forgiveness
Forgiveness is an essential aspect of emotional well-being, and it is a critical component of many spiritual and religious practices.
When we forgive, we let go of anger, bitterness, and resentment towards those who have hurt us, and we open ourselves up to a more peaceful, fulfilling life.
- Psalm 103:12 – “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
- Ephesians 1:7- “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
- John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
- Daniel 9:9 – “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him.”
- Isaiah 43:25 – “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more …”
- Luke 5: 20 – “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’”
- Luke 6:37 – “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
- Matthew 18: 21-22 – “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.'”
- Luke 5: 20 – “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’”
- Luke 6:37 – “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
Looking for some more wise words?
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These quotes serve as a reminder of the power of forgiveness and its ability to heal and transform relationships and our own emotional state.
Some popular forgiveness quotations include phrases like “forgive and forget,” “holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die,” and “forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”
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