William Blake
"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend."
Reinhold Niebuhr
"Forgiveness is the final form of love."
Paul Boese
"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Thomas Fuller
He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.
Robin Sharma
"Forgiveness isn't approving what happened. It's choosing to rise above it."
T.D. Jakes
"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."
Desmond Tutu
"Forgiveness is not weak. It takes courage to face and overcome powerful emotions."
Tyler Perry
"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."
Hannah More
"Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits."
Edwin Hubbel Chapin
"Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge."
Bruce Lee
Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.
Josh Billings
"There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness."
John Green
"The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive. "
Maya Angelou
"It's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody."
Mahatma Gandhi
"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
Alexander Pope
"To err is human; to forgive, divine."
Lewis B. Smedes
"To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. "
"When you choose to forgive those who have hurt you, you take away their power."
"You’ll never know how strong your heart is until you learn to forgive who broke it."
Forgiveness can sometimes feel impossible when we feel filled to the brim with intense feelings of hate and anger. It can be hard to move past something or someone that we feel has wronged or caused us pain. This refusal to let go is a slow poison that causes us more torment each day, but it has one simple antidote: forgiveness.
Only once we forgive do we realize how much anger was weighing us down. This is why forgiving is the best gift you can give to yourself. Let these quotes from great men and women like Maya Angelou, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr inspire you and help you let go of the past.