Forgiveness Proverbs

Sayings about Forgiveness

Forgiveness hides a pleasure that you can't get back from revenge. ~ Iranian Proverbs

It is fitting for a great God to forgive great sinners. ~ Hebrew Proverbs

Forgiving the unrepentant is like drawing pictures on water. ~ Japanese Proverbs

Forgiveness is more satisfying than revenge. ~ Arabian Proverbs

One can forgive a murder but not impoliteness. ~ Chinese Proverbs

Where blood has been shed the tree of forgiveness cannot grow. ~ Brazilian Proverbs

He who forgives a thief is a thief himself. ~ Spanish Proverbs

The offender never forgives. ~ Russian Proverbs

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. ~ Bible

If you forgive the fox for stealing your chickens, he will take your sheep. ~ Georgian Proverbs

Who forgives wins. ~ African Proverb

He who forgives ends the quarrel. ~ Saying

Forgiveness is the key to happiness. ~ Saying

Women and fools never forgive. ~ Chinese Proverb

Poverty is a sin that the rich never forgive. ~ Russian Proverb

If I die, I forgive you; if I recover, we shall see. ~ Spanish Proverb

Forgive and forget. ~ Traditional Proverb

Oh, misfortune, I forgive you when you come alone. ~ Turkish Proverbs

If you offend, ask for pardon; if offended, forgive. ~ Ethiopian Proverbs

Forgiveness is a pillar of justice. ~ Russian Proverb

To forgive heals the wound, to forget heals the scar. ~ Saying

The noblest vengeance is to forgive. ~ Traditional Proverb

They forgive the wine but they hang the bottle. ~ French Proverbs

The Irish forgive their great men when they are safely buried. ~ Irish Proverbs

Those that do you a very ill deed will never forgive you. ~ Traditional Proverb

A kind speech and forgiveness is better than alms followed by injury. ~ Islamic Proverb

You forgive everything of someone who doesn’t forgive himself. ~ Chinese Proverb

A Christian forgives, an idiot forgets. ~ Corsican Proverbs

God forgives sinners; otherwise His heaven would be empty. ~ German Proverbs

Be patient with your enemies and forgiving of your friends. ~ Afghan Proverbs

It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission. ~ Saying

If there were no wrongdoing, there would be no forgiveness. ~ Egyptian Proverbs

Quotations about Forgiveness

One forgives to the degree that one loves. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. ~ Hannah Arendt

Forgiveness is the act of admitting we are like other people. ~ Christina Baldwin

The world can forgive practically anything except people who mind their own business. ~ Margaret Mitchell

We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends. ~ Cosmus

We should always forgive,--the penitent for their sake, the impenitent for our own. ~ Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

I can have peace of mind only when I forgive rather than judge. ~ Gerald G. Jampolsky

Forgiving those who hurt us is the key to personal peace. ~ G. Weatherly

He who forgives readily only invites offense. ~ Pierre Corneille

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations. ~ Oscar Wilde

A woman who can't forgive should never have more than a nodding acquaintance with a man. ~ Edgar Watson Howe

When you are happy you can forgive a great deal. ~ Princess Diana

The more we know, the better we forgive; Whoe'er feels deeply, feels for all who live. ~ Madame de Stael

When women love us they forgive everything. ~ Honore de Balzac

Who understands much, forgives much. ~ Anne Germain De Stael

He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for everyone has need to be forgiven. ~ George Herbert

Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing: age, which forgives itself everything, is forgiven nothing. ~ George Bernard Shaw

We never ask God to forgive anybody except when we haven't. ~ Elbert Hubbard

Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another. ~ Jean Paul Richter

Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself. ~ Harriet Nelson

What we forgive too freely doesn’t stay forgiven. ~ Mignon McLaughlin

Life is an adventure in forgiveness. ~ Norman Cousins

It is a very delicate job to forgive a man, without lowering him in his own estimation, and yours too. ~ Henry Wheeler Shaw

To love is human, it is also human to forgive. ~ Plautus

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. ~ Honore De Balzac

Forgiveness is better than revenge. ~ Pittacus of Mitylene

As nice as we are in love, we forgive more faults in that than in friendship. ~ Henry Home

Today I forgive all those who have ever offended me. I give my love to all thirsty hearts, both to those who love me and to those who do not love me. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda

Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on. ~ Les Brown

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

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The man who forgives is far stronger than the man who fights. ~ Nathan Croall

Nothing inspires forgiveness quite like revenge. ~ Scott Adams

If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive. ~ Bhagavad Gita

We should forgive freely, but forget rarely. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

I never forgive, but I always forget. ~ Arthur James Balfour

Without forgiveness, there's no future. ~ Desmond Tutu

Life, that ever need's forgiveness, has, for its, first duty, to forgive. ~ Lord Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton

Forgiveness is man's deepest need and highest achievement. ~ Horace Bushnell

God may forgive your sins, but your nervous system won’t ~ Alfred Korzybski

Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives. ~ Lawana Blackwell

Forgiveness is the final form of love. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr

And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. ~ Bible

From my experience, forgiving is the only way to survive. ~ Molly Ringwald

It is easy enough to forgive your enemies if you have not the means to harm them. ~ Heinrich Heine

There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness. ~ Josh Billings

It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission. ~ Grace Hopper

Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself. ~ Decimus Magnus Ausonius

Forgive others often, yourself never. ~ Syrus

We all like to forgive, and love best not those who offend us least, nor who have done most for us, but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them. ~ Samuel Butler

"I can forgive, but I cannot forget," is only another way of saying "I will not forgive." A forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note, torn in two and burned up, so that it never can be shown against the man. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

To forgive oneself? No, that doesn't work: we have to be forgiven. But we can only believe this is possible if we ourselves can forgive. ~ Dag Hammarskjold

The secret of forgiving everything is to understand nothing ~ George Bernard Shaw

One thing you will probably remember well is any time you forgive and forget. ~ Franklin P. Jones

When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive. ~ Alan Paton

Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. ~ Corrie Ten Boom

Forgiveness is the most tender part of love. ~ John Sheffield

We may forgive those who bore us, we cannot forgive those whom we bore. ~ Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld

Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much. ~ Oscar Wilde

And if your friend does evil to you, say to him, "I forgive you for what you did to me, but how can I forgive you for what you did to yourself?" ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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

Forgive you? Oh, of course, dear, a dozen times a week! We women were created forgiveness but to speak. ~ Ella Higginson

Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. ~ Paul Boese

A coward never forgives. ~ Laurence Sterne

To be social is to be forgiving ~ Robert Frost

Yes, this is what good is: to forgive evil. There is no other good. ~ Antonio Porchia

Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. ~ Mark Twain

Those who easily forgive invite offenses. ~ Pierre Corneille

The mind that too frequently forgives bad actions will at last forget good ones. ~ Frederic Reynolds

Forgiveness is the oil of relationships. ~ Josh McDowell

One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody every night you go to bed. ~ Ann Landers

Men are less forgiving than women. ~ Samuel Richardson

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

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. ~ William Blake

Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life. ~ George MacDonald

Forgive thyself little, and others much. ~ Robert Leighton

Only the brave know how to forgive; it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at. ~ Laurence Sterne

God will forgive me; that’s his business ~ Heinrich Heine

Forgiveness is the highest and most difficult of all moral lessons. ~ Joseph Jacobs

Forgiveness is the noblest vengeance. ~ H.G. Bohn

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

To receive an injury is to be wounded; but to forgive and forget it is the cure. ~ William Scott Downey

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. ~ St. Augustine

Forgiveness is healing ... especially forgiving yourself. ~ Alyson Noël

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

Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. ~ Isaac Friedmann

People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right. ~ J. K. Rowling

The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget. ~ Thomas Szasz

They who forgive most shall be most forgiven. ~ Philip James Bailey


A man must learn to forgive himself. ~ Arthur Davison Ficke

Forgiving is love's toughest work, and love's biggest risk. ~ Lewis B. Smedes

Women do not often have it in their power to give like men, but they forgive like Heaven. ~ Madame Suzanne Curchod Necker

The narrow soul knows not the godlike glory of forgiving. ~ Nicholas Rowe

Forgiveness is all-powerful. Forgiveness heals all ills. ~ Catherine Ponder

To err is human, to forgive, divine. ~ Alexander Pope

Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves that allows us to get on with our lives instead of being trapped in the past by resentment. ~ Rick Warren

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

To forgive a fault in another is more sublime than to be faultless one's self. ~ George Sand

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave. ~ Indira Gandhi

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

Forgiveness is the way to true health and happiness. ~ Gerald G. Jampolsky

If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others? ~ Dolores Huerta

He who has not forgiven an enemy has never yet tasted one of the most sublime enjoyments of life. ~ Johann Kaspar Lavater

The brave only know how to forgive. ~ Laurence Sterne

Yes, we ought to forgive our enemies, but not until they are hanged. ~ Heinrich Heine

A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the full value of time and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain. ~ Author Unknown

If I owe Smith ten dollars and God forgives me, that doesn't pay Smith. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

Forgiveness is God's command. ~ Martin Luther

That neither God nor man can well forgive. ~ Lord Alfred Tennyson

Forgive! How many will say, "forgive," and find a sort of absolution in the sound to hate a little longer! ~ Lord Alfred Tennyson

God has a big eraser. ~ Billy Zeoli

We forgive too little, forget too much. ~ Madame Soimonoff

A winner rebukes and forgives; a loser is too timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive. ~ Sidney J. Harris

It's far easier to forgive an enemy after you've got even with him. ~ Olin Miller

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

The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good. ~ Catherine Porter

The moment an individual can accept and forgive himself, even a little, is the moment in which he becomes to some degree lovable. ~ Eugene Kennedy

What is forgiven is usually well remembered. ~ Louis Dudek

Forgive those who have hurt you. ~ Les Brown

To understand is to forgive, even oneself. ~ Alexander Chase

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

Let us forgive each other – only then will we live in peace. ~ Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

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Saying about Forgiveness



Forgiveness: Learning How to Forgive. ~ Book preview