Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.--Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)

Decide to forgive: For resentment is negative; resentment is poisoning; resentment diminishes and devours the self.--Robert Muller 

The folly which we might have ourselves committed is the one which we are least ready to pardon in another.--Joseph Roux (Meditations of a Parish Priest)

Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours. Be patient and understanding. Life is too short to be vengeful or malicious.--Phillips Brooks

Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself.--Ausonius

Forgiveness is an inner correction that lightens the heart. It is for our peace of mind first. Being at peace, we will now have peace to give to others, and this is the most permanent and valuable gift we can possibly give.--Gerald Jampolsky

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 again made clean.--Dag Hammarskjold

Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.--Hannah More ("Christianity a Practical Principle" Practical Piety)

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

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the flower leaves on the heel of the one that crushed it.--Anonymous

Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.--George Macdonald

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

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

Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge.--Isaac Friedmann

Forgiveness means letting go of the past.--Gerald Jampolsky

The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good.--Catherine Ponder

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

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

Here is a mental treatment guaranteed to cure every ill that flesh is heir to: sit for half an hour every night and mentally forgive everyone against whom you have any ill will or antipathy.--Charles Fillmore

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

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

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

It is easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit to forgive them for having witnessed your own.--Jessamyn West

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.--Saint Francis of Assisi

Keeping score of old scores and scars, getting even and one-upping, always makes you less than you are.--Malcolm Forbes

The law an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.--Mohatmas Gandhi

Life is an adventure in forgiveness.--Norman Cousins

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

The more we know the better we forgive. Whoever feels deeply, feels for all who live.--Madame de Stael

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury.--E. H. Chapin

Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.--H. Jackson Brown (?) (Life's Little Instruction Calendar, 1999)

Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business.--Robin Casarjian

Nothing brings families together faster than forgiveness. That should make it Step No. 1, but most of us find forgiving hard. We associate it with weakness and losing when, actually, the reverse is true. When you forgive, you gain strength and come out a winner. You break free of control by the other person's actions.--Dr. Joyce Brothers ("Reconnect With Your Family" Parade Magazine 11/4/2001)

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

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

Resentment is one burden that is incompatible with your success. Always be the first to forgive; and forgive yourself first always.--Dan Zadra

Strength of character means the ability to overcome resentment against others, to hide hurt feelings, and to forgive quickly.--Lawrence G. Lovasik (The Hidden Power of Kindness)

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

There's no operation where you can have your anger cut out. But if you work on yourself, as you get better, you'll be more capable of seeing others as flawed human beings. That makes it easier to forgive.--Robin Quivers

There's no point in burying the hatchet if you're going to put up a marker on the site.--Sydney Harris

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

To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee.--William H. Walton

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

To forget a wrong is the best revenge.--Italian proverb

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

True forgiveness is not an action after the fact, it is an attitude with which you enter each moment.--David Ridge

We achieve inner health only through forgiveness--the forgiveness not only of others but also of ourselves.--Joshua Loth Leibman

We cannot love unless we have accepted forgiveness, and the deeper our experience of forgiveness is, the greater is our love.--Paul Tillich

We must be willing to forgive without limit even as God forgives; otherwise we cannot be forgiven.--Nels F. S. Ferre

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

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 al, but our hate is turning our days and nights into a hellish turmoil.--Dale Carnegie

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

You don't have to accept the invitation to get angry. Instead, practice forgiveness, empathy and encouragement.--Dan Fallon ("Getting Along in Families" CIGNA Well-Being Winter/Spring 2000)