Gabi E. Mulder

32 Perspective-Shifting Quotes About Forgiveness That Will Finally Set You Free

Because the only one you're holding hostage when you refuse to forgive is you. 
Heidi Priebe
June 28, 2016
“What if I forgave myself? I thought. What if I forgave myself even though I'd done something I shouldn't have? What if I was a liar and a cheat and there was no excuse for what I'd done other than because it was what I wanted and needed to do? What if I was sorry, but if I could go back in time I wouldn't do anything differently than I had done? What if I'd actually wanted to fuck every one of those men? What if heroin taught me something? What if yes was the right answer instead of no? What if what made me do all those things everyone thought I shouldn't have done was what also had got me here? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?”
— Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Tagged: Redemption, forgiveness, Self-Forgiveness, Mistakes, Making Mistakes
“Don’t get mad. Don’t get even. Do better. Much better. Rise above. Become so engulfed in your own success that you forget it ever happened.”
— Donald Driver, No Title
Tagged: Self-Esteem, Rising Above, Revenge, Getting Even, forgiveness
“Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.”
— Robert Brault, No Title
Tagged: Apologies, forgiveness, Anger, Hatred, Apologizing
“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain— and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”
— Dale Carnegie, How To Win Friends and Influence People
Tagged: forgiveness, Self-Control, Empathy, Understanding
“The energy of hatred won't get you anywhere; but the energy of forgiveness, which reveals itself through love, will transform your life in a positive way.”
— Paulo Coelho, The Zahi
Tagged: Hatred, forgiveness, Love, Pain, Moving Forward
“Chronic remorse is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrong-doing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.”
— Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Tagged: Remorse, Regret, Making Mistakes, Guilt, Morality, forgiveness, Forgiving Yourself
“Love doesn’t conquer all.
Love ends.
And it begins again.”
— Dawson Leery, Dawson's Creek
Tagged: Love, Relationships, Breakups, Getting Back Together, Divorce, forgiveness
“None of us can take back what we’ve done in the past, the most meaningful apology is how you live the rest of your life.”
— Penny Beernsten, Being Wrong
Tagged: Mistakes, Making Mistakes, forgiveness, Change, Redemption
“This is an apology letter to the both of us for how long it took me to let things go.”
— Buddy Wakefield, Hurling Crowbirds At Mockingbars (Hope Is Not A Course Of Action)
Tagged: Apology, Letting Go, forgiveness, Redemption
“Forgiveness is the release of all hope for a better past. ”
— Buddy Wakefield, Gentleman Practice
Tagged: forgiveness, Change, The Past, The future, Reality
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
— Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth: An Autobiography
Tagged: strength, Life, forgiveness
“Forgiveness doesn't sit there like a pretty boy in a bar. Forgiveness is the old fat guy you have to haul up a hill.”
— Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
Tagged: forgiveness
“You have to say 'I am forgiven' again and again until it becomes the story you believe about yourself.”
— Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
Tagged: forgiveness, Forgiving Yourself
“Don’t become who hurt you.”
— Julia Perluzzo, Untitled
Tagged: Anger, Revenge, forgiveness, Letting Go
“Forgive them. All of your Thems. The more Thems you can forgive, the lighter  you'll feel. ”
— Karen Salmansohn, Twitter
Tagged: forgiveness
“All I wanted was to crush him with my words. As if my words had the power to remove my pain and make us even. I was wrong. My words bounced back and cut my wound deeper. Pain is not healed with anger. The wound only closes when forgiveness shows its face. ”
— Mirtha Michelle Castro, Letters, To The Men I Have Loved
Tagged: forgiveness, Pain, Healing, Moving On
“I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter
But my will gets weak and my thoughts seem to scatter but I think it's about 
Forgiveness
Even if you don't love me anymore”
— Don Henley, Don Henley "The Heart Of The Matter" on Austin City Limits
Tagged: Love, forgiveness
“People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.”
— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
Tagged: forgiveness, Being wrong, Being Right
“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, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Tagged: forgiveness, Moving On, Moving Forward
“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, C. Joybell C. Dot Com
Tagged: forgiveness
“Resentment is like drinking a poison and then waiting for the other person to die.”
— Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else — you are the one who gets burned.”
— Commonly Attributed To Buddha, “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of harming another; you end up getting burned.”
Tagged: forgiveness, Anger, Hatred
“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
Tagged: forgiveness
“Before you can live a part of you has to die. You have to let go of what could have been, how you should have acted and what you wish you would have said differently. You have to accept that you can’t change the past experiences, opinions of others at that moment in time or outcomes from their choices or yours. When you finally recognize that truth then you will understand the true meaning of forgiveness of yourself and others. From this point you will finally be free.”
— Shannon Alder, 300 Questions To Ask Your Parents Before It's Too Late
Tagged: forgiveness
“The truth about anger is that it’s nothing more than the refusal to heal, because you’re scared to. Because you’re afraid of who you’ll be once your wounds close up and you have to go on living in your new, unfamiliar skin.”
— Heidi Priebe, Read This If There’s Someone You Can’t Forgive
Tagged: forgiveness, Anger, Pain
“Forgiveness means knowing that the past is over, the dust has settled and the destruction left in its wake can never be reconstructed to resemble what it was. It’s accepting that there’s no magic solution to the damage that’s been caused. It’s the realization that as unfair as the hurricane was, you still have to live in its city of ruins. And no amount of anger is going to reconstruct that city. You have to do it yourself.”
— Heidi Priebe, Read This If There’s Someone You Can’t Forgive
Tagged: forgiveness
“Forgiveness doesn’t mean you have to make amends with who hurt you. It doesn’t mean befriending them, sympathizing with them or validating what they have done to you. It just means accepting that they’ve left a mark on you. And that for better or for worse, that mark is now your burden to bear. It means you’re done waiting for the person who broke you to come put you back together. It’s the decision to heal your own wounds, regardless of which marks they’re going to leave on your skin. It’s the decision to move forward with scars.”
— Heidi Priebe, Read This If There’s Someone You Can’t Forgive
Tagged: forgiveness
“Forgiveness doesn't mean you let the forgiven stomp all over you once again. Forgiveness means you've found a way forward that acknowledges harm done and hurt caused without letting either your anger or your pain rule your life or define your relationship with the one who did you wrong.”
— Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
Tagged: forgiveness, Moving Forward, Moving On
“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.”
— Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
Tagged: Freedom, Hatred, Biterness, forgiveness
“Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive.”
— Wm. Paul Young, The Shack
Tagged: forgiveness