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

“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, amazon.com

“Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.”

— Robert Brault, goodreads.com

“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, goodreads.com

“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, amazon.com

“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, amazon.com

“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, amazon.com

“Forgive them. All of your Thems. The more Thems you can forgive, the lighter you'll feel.”

— Karen Salmansohn, twitter.com

“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 wo…”

— Cheryl Strayed, goodreads.com

“You have to say 'I am forgiven' again and again until it becomes the story you believe about yourself.”

— Cheryl Strayed, amazon.com

“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, amazon.com

“Don’t become who hurt you.”

— Julia Perluzzo, desireemmondesir.com

“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.”

— Kathryn Schulz, Penny Beernsten, amazon.com

“Forgiveness is the release of all hope for a better past.”

— Buddy Wakefield, amazon.com

“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, youtube.com

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

— Mahatma Gandhi, amazon.com

“Love doesn’t conquer all. Love ends. And it begins again.”

— Dawson Leery, amazon.com

“People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.”

— J.K. Rowling, amazon.com

“This is an apology letter to the both of us for how long it took me to let things go.”

— Buddy Wakefield, buddywakefield.com

“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, amazon.com

“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, fakebuddhaquotes.com

“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 m…”

— Heidi Priebe, thoughtcatalog.com

“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, amazon.com

“Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.”

— Gautama Buddha, amazon.com

“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…”

— Heidi Priebe, thoughtcatalog.com

“Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive.”

— Wm. Paul Young, amazon.com

“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, cjoybellc.com

“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, thoughtcatalog.com

“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, amazon.com

“Resentment is like drinking a poison and then waiting for the other person to die.”

— Nelson Mandela, barrypopik.com

“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 choic…”

— Shannon Alder, amazon.com