That you were once unkind befriends me now,
And for that sorrow, which I then did feel,
Needs must I under my transgression bow,
Unless my nerves were brass or hammered steel...
-- William Shakespeare, Sonnet #120.

I would build a bridge a hundred meters long,
To see the other side of what I did wrong,
Well you say you don't hate me, but I guess that I'm scared,
That with a river between us, you'll no longer care.
-- Marc Gunn, The Bridge.

Were it illegal to say
"I'm sorry, please forgive me,"
Gladly an outlaw I would be,
To apologize anyway.
-- FH, Cordula's Web.

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.
-- Buddha.

For us there is only one season, the season of sorrow.
-- Oscar Wilde, De Profoundis.

Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
[They condemn because they do not understand]
-- Unknown.

Culpa est mea.
[The fault is mine.]
-- Unknown.

4:31 omnis amaritudo et ira et indignatio et clamor et blasphemia tollatur a vobis cum omni malitia. 4:32 estote autem invicem benigni misericordes donantes invicem sicut et Deus in Christo donavit nobis
-- Ephesians, 4:31-4:32.

4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
-- Ephesians, 4:31-4:32.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love
will have the final word in reality.
This is why right, temporarily defeated,
is stronger than evil triumphant.
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

Through strife the slumbering soul awakes,
We learn on error's troubled route
The truths we could not prize without
The sorrow of our sad mistakes.
-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Mistakes.

I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.
--Mahatma Gandhi.

Forgiveness
Is the mightiest sword
Forgiveness of those you fear
Is the highest reward
When they bruise you with words
When they make you feel small
When it's hardest to take
You must do nothing at all...
-- Jane Eyre.

I'm glad that you too make mistakes. It shows the essence of your humanity much more than any of your daily good deeds. I love you so much more for it than if you were an ideal, yet cold and inhuman person whose judgement never failed.
-- FH.

Mother Nature is a harsh mistress: weakness and mistakes are immediately followed by severe crippling wounds. If Mother Nature, the ultimate teacher, never forgives her children's shortcomings, why should I be more lenient towards my imperfect friends?
-- Cordula König, The Cruel Diaries.

Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.
-- Buddha.

The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others, and does not accentuate the bad. The inferior does the reverse.
-- Confucius.

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
-- Albert Schweitzer.

Be assured that if you knew all, you would pardon all.
-- Thomas A. Kempis.

There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not object to it.
-- George Bernard Shaw.

There is so much bad in the best of us
and so much good in the worst of us
that it doesn't behoove any of us
to talk about the rest of us.
-- Unknown.

Let the punishment match the offense.
-- Marcus Tullius Cicero.

It is never too late to give up our prejudices.
-- Henry David Thoreau, Walden.

No man is ever innocent when his opponent is the judge.
-- Marcus Annaeus Lucanus.

With a little time, and a little more insight, we begin to see both ourselves and our enemies in humbler profiles. We are not really as innocent as we felt when we were first hurt. And we do not usually have a gigantic monster to forgive; we have a weak, needy, and somewhat stupid human being. When you see your enemy and yourself in the weakness and silliness of the humanity you share, you will make the miracle of forgiving a little easier.
-- Lewis B. Smedes.

It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.
-- Joseph Addison.

Most of our suspicions of others are aroused by our knowledge of ourselves.
-- Unknown.

What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.
-- C. S. Lewis.

Let us treat men and women well; treat them as if they were real. Perhaps they are.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Experience.

Blowing out another's candle will not make yours shine brighter.
-- Unknown.

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
-- Unknown.

Even the smallest candle burns brighter in the dark.
-- Unknown. (...as would a kind word and a smile. -- FH.)

Don't regret what you said, regret what you didn't say when you had the chance.
-- Unknown.

To light a candle is to cast a shadow.
-- Unknown.

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.
-- James Baldwin.

You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.
-- J. S. Knox.

The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.
-- William Blake.

Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
-- Unknown.

The value of compassion cannot be over-emphasized. Anyone can criticize. It takes a true believer to be compassionate. No greater burden can be borne by an individual than to know no one cares or understands.
-- Arthur H. Stainback.

I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
-- Unknown.

Nothing is so simple it cannot be misunderstood.
-- Freeman's Law.

Be nice to everyone on your way to the top because you pass them all on the way down.
-- Unknown.

There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.
-- Nathaniel Branden.

Expect people to do better than they are;
it helps them to become better;
but don't be disappointed when they are not;
it helps them to keep trying.
-- Unknown.

We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of men and irrational mania of those who hate or condemn us.
-- Thomas Merton.

I am the master of my unspoken words, and a slave to those that should have remained unspoken.
-- Unknown.

The sin was mine; I did not understand.
So now is music prisoned in her cave,
Save where some ebbing desultory wave
Frets with its restless whirls this meagre strand...
-- Oscar Wilde, The New Remorse.

Good people are always so sure they're right...
-- Barbara Graham's Last Words, executed at San Quentin, 1955.

10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
-- Proverbs, 10:12.

If you stand up like a nail you will get hammered down.
-- Japanese Proverb.

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
-- Unknown.

For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, And a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.
-- Ecclesiastes, 3:1-3:8.

Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.
-- George Soros.

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

Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.
-- John F. Kennedy.

Never murder a man who is committing suicide.
-- Woodrow Wilson.

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.
-- Benjamin Disraeli.

Can there be a love which does not make demands on its object?
-- Confucius, Analects, Book 14.

You can't do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays (Friendship).

One hearty laugh together will bring enemies into a closer communion of heart than hours spent on both sides in inward wrestling with the mental demon of uncharitable feeling.
-- William James.

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
-- Mother Teresa.

There are realities we all share, regardless of our nationality, language, or individual tastes. As we need food, so do we need emotional nourishment: love, kindness, appreciation, and support from others. We need to understand our environment and our relationship to it. We need to fulfill certain inner hungers: the need for happiness, for peace of mind... for wisdom.
-- J. Donald Walters.

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.
-- Golda Meir.

Your neighbor's vision is as true for him as your own vision is true for you.
-- Miguel de Unamuno.

So with this Earthly Paradise it is,
If ye will read aright, and pardon me,
Who strive to build a shadowy isle of bliss
Midmost the beating of the steely sea, ...
-- William Morris. Apology.

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.
-- Og Mandino.

Cats know not how to pardon.
-- Jean de la Fontaine.

I worry about fast forgivers. They tend to forgive quickly in order to avoid their pain. Or they forgive fast in order to get an advantage over the people they forgive. And their instant forgiving only makes things worse... People who have been wronged badly and wounded deeply should give themselves time and space before they forgive... There is a right moment to forgive. We cannot predict it in advance; we can only get ourselves ready for it when it arrives... Don't do it quickly, but don't wait too long... If we wait too long to forgive, our rage settles in and claims squatter's rights to our souls.
-- Lewis B. Smedes.

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

The one who throws the stone forgets; the one who is hit remembers forever.
-- Angolan Proverb.

Be kind, remember everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
-- T. H. Thompson.

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent tolerance; to a friend your heart; to your child a good example; to a father deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself respect; and to all men charity.
-- Frances Balfour.

You may be sorry that you spoke, sorry you stayed or went, sorry you won or lost, sorry so much was spent. But as you go through life, you'll find -- you're never sorry you were kind.
-- Herbert Prochnow.

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
-- Abraham Lincoln.

Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal.
-- Elizabeth Fry.

It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited.
-- Lewis B. Smedes.

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.
-- Albert Einstein.

We attach our feelings to the moment when we were hurt, endowing it with immortality. And we let it assault us every time it comes to mind. It travels with us, sleeps with us, hovers over us while we make love, and broods over us while we die. Our hate does not even have the decency to die when those we hate die -- for it is a parasite sucking OUR blood, not theirs. There is only one remedy for it [forgiveness].
-- Lewis B. Smedes.

Children are meant to understand compassion and comfort because they have received compassion and comfort -- and this should be in the family setting. A family should be a place where comfort is experienced and understood, so that the people are prepared to give comfort to others.
-- Edith Schaeffer.

After all this is over, all that will really have mattered is how we treated each other.
-- Unknown.

Many promising reconciliations have broken down because while both parties come prepared to forgive, neither party come prepared to be forgiven.
-- Charles Williams.

Reversing your treatment of the man you have wronged is better than asking his forgiveness.
-- Elbert Hubbard. (Blessed are the ones who know how to do it! -- FH.)

Strength of character means the ability to overcome resentment against others, to hide hurt feelings, and to forgive quickly.
-- Lawrence G. Lovasik.

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

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

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.
-- Quentin Crisp.

A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.
-- Samuel Johnson.

In your association with others, put yourself in their place. Enter into their feelings, their difficulties, their disappointments, their joys and their sorrows. Identify yourself with them, and then do to them as, were you to exchange places with them, you would wish them to deal with you.
-- Unknown.

Never ruin an apology with an excuse.
-- Kimberly Johnson.

I could drown in a frown and swim in a smile.
-- Unknown.

Women's faults are many, men have just two!
Everything they say and everything they do!!!
-- Unknown.

Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do.
-- Voltaire.

To err is human, to blame it on someone else is more human.
-- Unknown.

We hand folks over to God's mercy, and show none ourselves.
-- George Eliot.

To be great is to be misunderstood.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance.

Toleration is the best religion.
-- Victor Hugo.

The best of battles are won on our knees...
-- Unknown.

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

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
-- Albert Einstein.

Mr. Gorbatchev, tear down this wall!
-- Ronald Reagan.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.
-- Dalai Lama.

The less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice.
-- Clint Eastwood.

Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves.
-- Emily Brontë.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away.
-- Henry David Thoreau, Walden.

We should be lenient in our judgment, because often the mistakes of others would have been ours had we had the opportunity to make them.
-- Unknown.

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

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge.
-- William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus.

7:1 nolite iudicare ut non iudicemini. 7:2 in quo enim iudicio iudicaveritis iudicabimini et in qua mensura mensi fueritis metietur vobis.
-- Matthew, 7:1-7:2.

7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
-- Matthew, 7:1-7:2.

Every guilty person is his own hangman.
-- Seneca.

A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
-- Unknown.

There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.
-- French proverb.

We are called to be witnesses, not lawyers.
-- Unknown.

Be kind to unkind people; they probably need it the most.
-- Ashleigh Brilliant.

What power has love but forgiveness?
-- William Carlos Williams.

From the body of one guilty deed a thousand ghostly fears and haunting thoughts proceed.
-- William Wordsworth.

We judge others by their behavior. We judge ourselves by our intentions.
-- Ian Percy.

Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it.
-- Bill Bradley.

The world is full of judgment-days, and into every assembly that a man enters, in every action he attempts, he is gauged and stamped.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Spiritual Laws.

Every quarrel begins in nothing and ends in a struggle for supremacy.
-- Unknown.

The deeper the sorrow, the less tongue hath it.
-- Talmud.

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

If a good person does you wrong, act as though you had not noticed it. They will make note of this and not remain in your debt long.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness. Our enemies would dance with joy if only they knew how they were worrying us, lacerating us, and getting even with us! Our hate is not hurting them at all, but our hate is turning our own days and nights into a hellish turmoil.
-- Dale Carnegie.

There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance.
-- Unknown.

Each of us bears our own Hell.
-- Unknown.

Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
-- Malachy McCourt.

Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.
-- Emma Goldman.

One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tolerance and celebration of individual differences is the fire that fuels lasting love.
-- Tom Hannah.

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt.

It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend.
-- Madame Dorothee Deluzy.

"Thou Shall Forgiveth Thy Enemies."
What about your friends?
Must they first turn to enemies
so you can forgive them?
-- FH.

If one by one we counted people out
For the least sin, it wouldn't take us long
To get so we had no one left to live with.
For to be social is to be forgiving.
-- Robert Frost.

The only sin we never forgive each other is difference of opinion.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

People with bad consciences always fear the judgment of children.
-- Mary McCarthy.

Don't listen to what I say; listen to what I mean.
-- Unknown.

Everyone needs to be loved... especially when they do not deserve it.
-- Unknown.

Kids need love the most when they're acting most unlovable.
-- Erma Bombeck.

A good example is the best sermon.
-- Unknown.

Write injuries in the sand, kindnesses in marble.
-- Unknown.

Kindness is more than deeds. It is an attitude, an expression, a look, a touch. It is anything that lifts another person.
-- C. Neil Strait.

It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.
-- Erma Bombeck.

Kindness: a language the deaf can hear, the blind can see, and the mute can speak.
-- Unknown.

Kindness has converted more sinners, than zeal, eloquence or learning.
-- F. W. Faber.

Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion.
-- Dalai Lama.

Put love first. Entertain thoughts that give life And when a thought or resentment, or hurt, or fear comes your way, have another thought that is more powerful -- a thought that is love.
-- Mary Manin Morrissey.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
-- Mother Teresa.

Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you... If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it.
-- Emmet Fox.

When death, the great reconciler, has come, it is never our tenderness that we repent of, but our severity.
-- George Eliot.

The more benign the fault, the less likely you'll be forgiven.
-- FH's Law of Resentment.

Faults are thick when love is thin.
-- Unknown.

The easiest thing to find is fault.
-- Unknown.

The search for someone to blame is always successful.
-- Robert Half.

I am sorry I offended you. I should have lied.
-- Unknown.

Flatter me, and I may not believe you.
Criticize me, and I may not like you.
Ignore me, and I may not forgive you.
Encourage me, and I will not forget you.
-- William Arthur Ward.

Love fails, only when we fail to love.
-- J. Franklin.

Genuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head-on.
-- Alice Miller.

Forgiveness is the answer to the child's dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.
-- Dag Hammarskjold.

To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
-- Confucius.

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
-- Thomas Merton.

We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers -- but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault, because if you wanted to change you're the one who has got to change.
-- Katherine Hepburn.

It is hard to stumble when you're on your knees.
-- Unknown.

Every day is the dawn of a new error.
-- Unknown.

A cruel word may wreck a life,
A loving word may heal and bless.
-- Unknown.

If you were arrested for kindness, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
-- Unknown.

Give plenty of what is given to you,
And listen to pity's call.
Don't think the little you give is great,
And the much you get is small.
-- Phoebe Cary.

When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it.
-- Lewis B. Smedes.

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

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
-- William James.

Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.
-- William A. Ward.

Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.
-- Frederick Buechner

Rainbows apologize for angry skies.
-- Sylvia Voirol.

Peace is not just the absence of violence but the manifestation of human compassion.
-- Dalai Lama.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
-- Dalai Lama.

Peace is not something you wish for; it's something you make, something you do, something you are, something you give away.
-- Robert Fulghum.

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

Peace starts with a smile.
-- Unknown.

A smile is a curve that sets things straight.
-- Unknown.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.
-- Mother Teresa.

You are richer today if you have laughed, given or forgiven.
-- Unknown.

Compassion is the basis of morality.
-- Arnold Shopenhauer.

Charity begins at home.
-- Unknown.

Having the right to do it, doesn't mean it is right to do it.
-- Unknown.

A tear shed can say more than a hundred words spoken.
-- Unknown.

A smile is the lighting system of the face, the cooling system of the head and the heating system of the heart.
-- Unknown.

The dew of compassion is a tear.
-- Lord Byron.

If you are threatening to sue someone because of alledged aggressivity rather than trying to solve the issue peacefully first, aren't you being aggressive too?
-- Unknown.

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.
-- Bertrand Russell.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.
-- Unknown.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is not the critic who counts; Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; Who strives valiantly; Who errs, and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; But who does actually strive to do the deeds; Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; Who spends himself in a worthy cause; Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worse, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
-- Theodore Roosevelt.

Most great men and women are not perfectly rounded in their personalities, but are instead people whose one driving enthusiasm is so great it makes their faults seem insignificant.
-- Charles A. Cerami.

Mistakes are proof that you are trying.
-- Unknown.

Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that.
-- Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire.

Every snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty.
-- Stanislaw J. Lec.

No individual raindrop ever considers itself responsible for the flood.
-- Unknown.

Any party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the drought.
-- Dwight Whitney Morrow.

To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.
-- Confucius.

What must we do before expecting forgiveness of sin?
First, we have got to sin!
-- Unknown.

Men are apt to offend ('tis true) where they find most goodness to forgive.
-- William Congreve.

Sin with the multitude, and your responsibility and guilt are as great and as truly personal, as if you alone had done the wrong.
-- Tyron Edwards.

I do not bring forgiveness with me, nor forgetfulness. The only ones who can forgive are dead; the living have no right to forget.
-- Chaim Herzog.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
-- Aesop.

I have learned that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
-- James Rhinehart.

Holding on a hurt creates more hurt.
-- Unknown.

Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now... always.
-- Albert Schweitzer.

Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes.

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.

And he who has dwelt with his heart alone,
Hears all the music in friendship's tone.
So better and better I comprehend
How sorrow ever would be our friend.
-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Sorrow's Uses.

If God didn't forgive, Heaven would be empty.
-- Unknown.

God will forgive me, that is his business.
-- Heinrich Heine.

It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.
-- William Blackstone.

Affection is responsible for nine-tenth of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.
-- C. S. Lewis.

Forgiveness has nothing to do with forgetting... A wounded person cannot -- indeed, should not -- think that a faded memory can provide an expiation of the past. To forgive, one must remember the past, put it into perspective, and move beyond it. Without remembrance, no wound can be transcended.
-- Beverly Flanigan.

Forgiveness is a rebirth of hope, a reorganization of thought, and a reconstruction of dreams. Once forgiving begins, dreams can be rebuilt. When forgiving is complete, meaning has been extracted from the worst of experiences and used to create a new set of moral rules and a new interpretation of life's events.
-- Beverly Flanigan.

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.

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

Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.
-- Henry David Thoreau.

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heal that has crushed it.
-- Mark Twain.

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

If we practice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless.
-- Mahatma Gandhi.

If we say that monsters [people who do terrible evil] are beyond forgiving, we give them a power they should never have... they are given the power to keep their evil alive in the hearts of those who suffered most. We give them power to condemn their victims to live forever with the hurting memory of their painful pasts. We give the monsters the last word.
-- Lewis B. Smedes.

Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
-- Christina Rossetti. Remember.

Nothing is so strong as gentleness.
-- Unknown.

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

One of the most lasting pleasures you can experience is the feeling that comes over you when you genuinely forgive an enemy - whether he knows it or not.
-- O. A. Battista.

Don't you think you're a little over-reacting?
-- Adam to God.

He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for every one has need to be forgiven.
-- George Herbert.

A gentle word, like summer rain, may soothe some heart and banish pain.
What joy or sadness often springs, from just the simple little things!
-- Unknown.

A helping word to one in trouble is like a switch in a railroad track; an inch between wreck and smooth, rolling prosperity.
-- Henry Ward Beecher.

If someone were to pay you ten cents for every kind word you ever spoke and collect five cents for every unkind word, would you be rich or poor?
-- Unknown.

Silence is the only thing that can't be misquoted!
-- Unknown.

The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.
-- Elbert Hubbard.

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.
-- Benjamin Franklin.

Sometimes it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission.
-- Unknown.

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
-- Unknown.

Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours.
-- Phillips Brooks.

Every adult was once a child free from prejudice.
-- Mother Teresa.

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

When you forgive it takes you from the place of the victim to that of a victor.
-- Unknown.

Forgiveness is a rebirth of hope, a reorganization of thought, and a reconstruction of dreams. Once forgiving begins, dreams can be rebuilt. When forgiving is complete, meaning has been extracted from the worst of experiences and used to create a new set of moral rules and a new interpretation of life's events.
-- Beverly Flanigan.

A woman who can't forgive should never have more than a nodding acquaintance with a man.
-- Ed Howe.

Every mosquito bite in history was caused by a female.
-- Unknown. [Only female mosquitos need blood]

In an argument, women are always right, unless the opponent is also female.
-- Unknown.

When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.
-- Epictetus.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
-- Abraham Lincoln.

If you tell someone they are being judgmental, aren't you being judgmental yourself?
-- Unknown.

A computer is almost human, except that it doesn't blame its mistakes on another computer.
-- Unknown.

Consider how hard it is to change yourself; and you will understand what little chance you have trying to change others.
-- Unknown.

Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.
-- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

I'd be rather a failure at something I love,
than a success at something I hate.
-- George Burns.

You are never so strong as when you forgive.
-- Kimberly Converse.

If you have tried to do something and failed, you are vastly better off than if you had tried to do nothing and succeeded.
-- Lloyd Jones.

It's said in Hollywood that you should always forgive your enemies -
because you never know when you'll have to work with them.
-- Lana Turner.

We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies -- it is the first law of nature.
-- Voltaire.

Here's to you and here's to me,
And may we never disagree;
But if we do,
I'll still love you.
-- Unknown.

Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image on men's souls, and a beautiful image it is.
-- Blaise Pascal.

Take it slowly. The deepest resentments are wrapped up in a lot of hurt and pain. We think we're protecting ourselves by not forgiving. Acknowledge that and go easy on yourself. Forgiveness means that you've decided not to let it keep festering inside even if it only comes up once in awhile. Forgiveness is a powerful yet challenging tool that will support and honor you, even in the most extreme circumstances.
-- Doc Childre and Howard Martin.

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
-- Albert Einstein.

Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
-- Unknown.

It's better to regret something you did, rather than to regret something you didn't do.
-- Unknown.

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.
-- Emo Philips.

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
-- Carl Bard.

In the long run, it's not a question of whether they deserve to be forgiven. You're not forgiving them for their sake. You're doing it for yourself. For your own health and well-being, forgiveness is simply the most energy-efficient option. It frees you from the incredibly toxic, debilitating drain of holding a grudge. Don't let these people live rent free in your head. If they hurt you before, why let them keep doing it year after year in your mind? It's not worth it but it takes heart effort to stop it. You can muster that heart power to forgive them as a way of looking out for yourself. It's one thing you can be totally selfish about.
-- Doc Childre and Howard Martin.

Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business. Not to forgive is to yield oneself to another's control... to be locked into a sequence of act and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating always. The present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. Forgiveness frees the forgiver. It extracts the forgiver from someone else's nightmare.
-- Lance Morrow.

Forgiveness is giving love When there is no reason to.
-- Unknown.

Someday, we'll look around back on this, laugh nervously, and change the subject.
-- Unknown.

You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.
-- Lewis B. Smedes.

One forgives to the degree that one loves.
-- Francois de La Rochefoucauld.

Confrontation doesn't always bring a solution to the problem, but until you confront the problem, there will be no solution.
-- James Baldwin.

In a family argument, if it turns out you are right, apologize at once.
-- Unknown.

The best way to have the last word is to apologize.
-- Unknown.

Labor with what zeal we will,
Something still remains undone,
Something uncompleted still
Waits the rising of the sun...
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Something left Undone.

When we quarrel, how we wish we had been blameless!
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules. They're not like aches or wounds; they're more like splits in the skin that won't heal because there's not enough material.
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald.

How does one know if she has forgiven? You tend to feel sorrow over the circumstance instead of rage, you tend to feel sorry for the person rather than angry with him. You tend to have nothing left to say about it all.
-- Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

I praise loudly, I blame softly.
-- Katharina II, Russia.

Since nothing we intend is ever faultless, and nothing we attempt ever without error, and nothing we achieve without some measure of finitude and fallibility we call humanness, we are saved by forgiveness.
-- David Augsnurger.

Every fool knows that he cannot reach the stars, but it never keeps a wise man from trying.
-- Ronnie B. Woods.

While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, another is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.
-- Henry C. Link.

Natural laws have no pity.
-- Unknown.

To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike.
-- Horace Mann.

There once was a king wanting to settle accounts
With his servants and calculated all the amounts
These servants owed to the king in question
His demand for repayment was more than a suggestion
There was a servant who owed him quite alot
But could he repay? No, he could not
So the master demanded all his things be sold
He and his family, his silver and gold
Then the servant fell to his knees
Hoping his master to appease
"Be patient with me. I know that I lack.
But if you wait, the debt I'll pay back".
The master took pity on him, you know
And cancelled his debt and let him go
But the servant then went out and found a fellow man
Who owed him just a little - grabbed him and began
To choke the fellow servant demanding he be paid.
But the servant fell to his knees trembling and afraid
"I will pay you back everything I owe.
Please just wait a while. Don't take this as a 'no'"
But the servant was impatient and threw him into jail.
But word got to the king of this horrid tale.
And called the wicked servant in before his throne
"I forgave, you should too, this should have known.
But now you have revealed your real attitude
And so I am removing all your latitude."
He threw him into jail to pay back all he owed.
Being tortured day and night even after growing old.
This kind of treatment my Father will impart.
If you don't forgive your brothers and do it from your heart.
-- The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.

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

You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.
-- Lewis B. Smedes.

Compassion is not quantitative.
Certainly it is true that
behind every human being who cries out for help
there may be a million or more equally entitled to attention.
But this is the poorest of all reasons
for not helping the person whose cries you hear.
Where, then does one begin or stop? How to choose?
How to determine which one of a million sounds surrounding you
is more deserving than the rest?
Do not concern yourself in such speculations.
You will never know, you will never need to know.
Reach out and take hold of the one who happens to be nearest.
If you are never able to help or save another,
at least you will have saved one.
To help put meaning into a single life
may not produce universal regeneration,
but it happens to represent
the basic form of energy in a society.
It is also the test of individual responsibility.
-- Norman Cousins.

There was hell in her eyes! She was worn and jaded
Her soul is at war with the life she has led.
As I looked on that face so strangely faded
I wonder God did not strike me dead...
-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox, A Man's Repentance.

Forgiveness is the final form of love.
-- Reinhold Niebuhr.

[Prev] [Up] [Next]