105 Forgiveness Quotes to Help You Heal & Let Go

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Even the strongest person can struggle with forgiveness when faced with hurt, because it’s only those we are close to (or thought we were) who have the ability to cut us so deeply. Trying to accept and move on from such a huge duplicity can seem insurmountable, and not many of us can climb that particular mountain easily.

However, forgiveness is less about the person who has broken our trust, and much more about being kind to ourselves, because living with unresolved pain can rob us of our futures as we struggle to deal with the hurt. Holding onto pain isn’t a sign of strength, forgiveness is, and these forgiveness quotes will help you to see how letting go is the ultimate in self-care.

To forgive doesn’t mean to forget, but it does require you to recognize your feelings, acknowledge them, and then let them go in order to move forward in a healthy way. Whether your betrayer is a family member, a partner, or a close friend, these forgiveness quotes will help you to see that forgiving is not forgetting, and neither is turning the other cheek; it’s all about allowing yourself to grow and move past something which you thought you could never get over.

If you’re looking for more good quotes to help protect your mental health, take a look at these healing quotes and these quotes on knowing your worth.

Forgiveness Quotes

“Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge.” – Isaac Friedmann

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” – Mahatma Gandhi, All Men are Brothers: Autobiographical Reflections

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” – Paul Boese

You may also like: These quotes on peace for a calm, centered mind: https://brightdrops.com/peace-quotes

“Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal.” – C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

“We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry, or because they remain intrigued with each other, because of many kindnesses, because of luck. But part of it has got to be forgiveness and gratefulness.” – Ellen Goodman

“Genuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head-on.” – Alice Duer Miller

Related: Self-Love Quotes

“Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” – Indira Gandhi

“Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day’s chalking.” – Frederick Buechner, The Alphabet of Grace

“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

“Can I be forgiven for all I’ve done to get here? I want to be. I can. I believe it.” – Veronica Roth, Allegiant

“A life lived without forgiveness is a prison.” – William Arthur Ward

“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

“Only the brave know how to forgive. … A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.” – Laurence Sterne

“Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.” – George MacDonald

“Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

“Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.” – Hannah Arendt

“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.” – John F. Kennedy

“Forgiveness is not a feeling; it is a commitment. It is a choice to show mercy, not to hold the offence up against the offender. Forgiveness is an expression of love.” – Gary Chapman

“Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.” – Peter Ustinov

“If you can’t forgive and forget, pick one.” – Robert Brault

“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you are. ― Cherie Carter” – Scott

“To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.” – Robert Muller

“A broken friendship that is mended through forgiveness can be even stronger than it once was.” – Stephen Richards, Forgiveness and Love Conquers All: Healing the Emotional Self

“Disagreements don’t cause disunity, a lack of forgiveness does.” – Loren Cunningham

“To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.” – Confucius

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass.” – Confucius

“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

“Forgiveness is the economy of the heart… forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.” – Hannah More

“Forgiveness means it finally becomes unimportant that you hit back.” – Anne Lamott

“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.” – Corrie ten Boom

“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.” – William Blake

“These are the few ways we can practice humility: To speak as little as possible of one’s self. To mind one’s own business. Not to want to manage other people’s affairs. To avoid curiosity. To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully. To pass over the mistakes of others. To accept insults and injuries. To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked. To be kind and gentle even under provocation. Never to stand on one’s dignity. To choose always the hardest.” – Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living

“We ask for forgiveness. And we forgive others who ask us. In that way we can experience healing, healing in our souls.” – Ed Dobsons

“Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something; forgiveness, however, is for those who are substantial enough to move on.” – Criss Jami, Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile

“Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever,- One foot in sea and one on shore, To one thing constant never.” – William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing

“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.” – Abraham Lincoln

“People have to forgive. We don’t have to like them, we don’t have to be friends with them, we don’t have to send them hearts in text messages, but we have to forgive them, to overlook, to forget. Because if we don’t we are tying rocks to our feet, too much for our wings to carry!” – C. JoyBell C.

“Forgiveness is the oil of relationships.” – Josh McDowell

“There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” – Bryant H. McGill

“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

“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

“Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.” – Kent M. Keith, The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council

“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.” – Roberto Assagioli

“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

“One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.” – Rita Mae Brown

“Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.” – Robert Jordan

“Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen

“As long as you don’t forgive, who and whatever it is will occupy a rent-free space in your mind.” – Isabelle Holland

“Life is an adventure in forgiveness.” – Norman Cousins

“Forgiveness is not something you do for someone else; it’s something you do for yourself. To forgive is not to condone, it is to refuse to continue feeling bad about an injury.” – Jim Beaver

“Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.” – Anonymous

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” – Paul Boose

“What I cannot love, I overlook.” – Anaïs Nin

“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

“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” – Nelson Mandela

“Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another.” – Emma Goldman

“Forgiveness must be immediate, whether or not a person asks for it. Trust must be rebuilt over time. Trust requires a track record.” – Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. ― Cherie Carter” – Scott

“Forgiveness doesn’t make the other person right, it makes you free.” – Stormie Omartian

“Always forgive, but never forget, else you will be a prisoner of your own hatred, and doomed to repeat your mistakes forever.” – Wil Zeus, Sun Beyond the Clouds

“Forgiveness is like faith. You have to keep reviving it.” – Mason Cooley

“Last night I lost the world, and gained the universe.” – C. JoyBell C.

“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.” – Oprah Winfrey

“The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.” – Marianne Williamson

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” – Mark Twain

“This is one of my favorites: True forgiveness is when you can say, Thank you for that experience.” – Oprah Winfrey

“I have learned, that the person I have to ask for forgiveness from the most is: myself. You must love yourself. You have to forgive yourself, every day, whenever you remember a shortcoming, a flaw, you have to tell yourself That’s just fine. You have to forgive yourself so much, until you don’t even see those things anymore. Because that’s what love is like.” – C. JoyBell C.

“I’m sorry about yesterday, she said. He hung on to his straps and shrugged. Yesterday happens.” – Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park

“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

“Sometimes you just have to regret things and move on.” – Charlaine Harris

“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.” – Criss Jami, Killosophy

“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

“Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.” – Ted Chiang

“It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We need to learn from our errors and move on.” – Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

“Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.” – William Arthur Ward

“If he can’t handle you at your worst then he does not deserve you at your best. Real love means seeing beyond the words spoken out of pain, and instead seeing a person’s soul.” – Shannon L. Alder, 300 Questions LDS Couples Should Ask Before Marriage

“Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself.” – Harriet Nelson

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” – Lewis B. Smedes

“He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.” – George Herbert

“Certainly people make mistakes in their life. I’m no different, I’ve made mistakes. When people mess up, forgive them. When I mess up, I ask for forgiveness.” – Michele Bachmann

“When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.” – Bernard Meltzer

“A heart filled with anger has no room for love.” – Joan Lunden

“I think we learn the most from imperfect relationships – things like forgiveness and compassion.” – Andrea Thompson

“Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive.” – Wm. Paul Young, The Shack

“I guess forgiveness, like happiness, isn’t a final destination. You don’t one day get there and get to stay.” – Deb Caletti

“When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines upon you.” – Jon Krakauer

“I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“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

“If you choose to forgive someone who has wronged you rather than to hate that person, you shift the frequency of your Light.” – Gary Zukav

“To err is human, to forgive, divine.” – Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism

“There is no peace without forgiveness.” – Marianne Williamson

“Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.” – C.S. Lewis

“Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.” – Marlene Dietrich

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” – C.S. Lewis

“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

“Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.” – Oscar Wilde

“Forgiveness is the best revenge.” – Imam Ali

“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

“Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past, and is therefore the means for correcting our misperceptions.” – Gerald G. Jampolsky, Love Is Letting Go of Fear

“Forgiveness is a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on.” – Dr. Steve Maraboli

“A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.” – Robert Quillen

“One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody everything everynight before you go to bed.” – Bernard Baruch

“We are all on a life long journey and the core of its meaning, the terrible demand of its centrality is forgiving and being forgiven.” – Martha Kilpatrick