Whether it's the wrongs we have done (to others or ourselves), or the wrongs that others have committed against us, forgiveness is necessary in order to move forward with our lives, to be happy, and to recover.
Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves. It's not a magic eraser, or a way to excuse or justify offending behavior (or to allow it to continue). It's a way of letting go of our anger, resentment, embarrassment, and pain. It empowers us, allowing us to regain peace and begin healing.
Forgiveness isn't always easy. It's usually very challenging. It takes practice, just like any other worthwhile skill.
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Many people are afraid to forgive because they feel they must remember the wrong or they will not learn from it. The opposite is true. Through forgiveness, the wrong is released from its emotional stranglehold on us so that we can learn from it. Through the power and intelligence of the heart, the release of forgiveness brings expanded intelligence to work with the situation more effectively.
~David McArthur & Bruce McArthur
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 is giving up the possibility of a better past.
~Unknown
Forgive or Relive.
~Unknown
It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own.
~Jessamyn West
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
~Lewis B. Smedes
We achieve inner health only through forgiveness - the forgiveness not only of others but also of ourselves.
~ Joshua Loth Liebman
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
~Mark Twain
There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.
~Bryant H. McGill
To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.
~Robert Muller
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.
~Sara Paddison
Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
~Oscar Wilde
When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive.
~Alan Paton
Life is an adventure in forgiveness.
~Norman Cousins
Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.
~George MacDonald
Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.
~Hannah Moore
People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than for being right.
~JK Rowling
Most of us can forgive and forget; we just don't want the other person to forget that we forgave.
~Ivern Ball
Forgiveness means that you've decided not to let it keep festering inside even if it only comes up once in awhile.
~Doc Childre and Howard Martin
Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.
~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
~Paul Boese
Forgiveness means letting go of the past.
~Gerald Jampolsky
Without forgiveness, there's no future.
~Desmond Tutu
True forgiveness is not an action after the fact, it is an attitude with which you enter each moment.
~David Ridge
Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.
~William Arthur Ward
We are full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies.
~Voltaire
Anger makes us smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.
~Cherie Carter Scott
He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.
~George Herbert
Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die.
~George Herbert
Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.
~Anonymous
Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury.
~E. H. Chapin
Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.
~Mahatma Gandhi
Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.
~Indira Gandhi
The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.
~Elbert Hubbard
*more Recovery Quotes and Quotes of the Week can be found in the sidebar drop down menus.
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