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Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
By Nicole Bradley-Bernard — Written on Jan 15, 2021
Forgiving someone is hard. And yet, forgiveness isn't just necessary in our daily lives; it's vital to a healthy life and healthy relationships.
Whether it’s trying to forgive someone who personally hurt you or trying to forgive yourself for something you've done, forgiveness is one of the hardest things to learn in life.
Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting — it simply is the process of letting go of all of the negative emotions surrounding the event and not holding it against the person anymore (whether it’s yourself or someone else).
Forgiveness doesn't mean letting someone disrespect you and treat you poorly without response. You can forgive someone and still take a healthy approach and not allow them to be part of your life anymore.
But still, everyone needs forgiveness and understanding at some point or another, despite how difficult this can be. Forgiveness is the only way you can heal from the past; it's a powerful place because it frees you from pain.
Here are 90 of the best forgiveness quotes to help you heal and move forward with your own life.
1. “Holding a grudge doesn’t make you strong; it makes you bitter. Forgiving doesn’t make you weak; it sets you free.” — Dave Willis
2. “One of the most courageous decisions you’ll ever make is to finally let go of what is hurting your heart and soul.” — Anonymous
3. “Forgiving you is my gift to you. Moving on is my gift to myself.” — Anonymous
4. “Forgiveness is just another name for freedom.” — Byron Katie
5. “Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
6. “Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does change the future.” — Anonymous
7. “Let it hurt. Let it heal. Let it go.” — Anonymous
8. “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” — Wayne Dyer
9. “Forgiving you means 'I no longer dwell on what an a**hole you are.' It doesn’t mean you are no longer an a******.” — Anonymous
10. “Forgiveness is the best form of love. It takes a strong person to say sorry and an even stronger person to forgive.” — Anonymous
11. “Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” — C.S. Lewis
12. “Forgiveness is making a conscious decision to live in the present … even if the past still hurts.” — Anonymous
13. “In the shadow of my hurt, forgiveness feels like a decision to reward my enemy. But in the shadow of the cross, forgiveness is merely a gift from one undeserving soul to the next.” — Andy Stanley
14. “You either get bitter or you get better. It's that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate, it belongs to you.” — Josh Shipp
15. “None of us should be defined by the worst thing we’ve ever done.” — Kevin R. Duncan
16. “Forgiveness doesn’t excuse their behavior. Forgiveness prevents their behavior from destroying your heart.” — Anonymous
17. “You’ll never know how strong your heart is until you learn to forgive who broke it.” — Anonymous
18. “The true mark of maturity is when somebody hurts you and you try to understand their situation instead of trying to hurt them back.” — Anonymous
19. “There is nothing more classy or powerful than showing forgiveness and grace to someone who does not deserve it.” — Anonymous
20. “Forgiveness is the best revenge.” — Imam Ali
21. “There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” — Bryant H. Mcgill
22. “Remember, when you forgive, you heal. And when you let go, you grow.” — Anonymous
23. “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.” — Dr. Steve Maraboli
24. “Compassion and forgiveness are signs of strength.” — Anonymous
25. “Sometimes you forgive people simply because you still want them in your life.” — Anonymous
26. “Reminder: Forgiveness is a process. A choice you make over and over, every day until you’re free of hurt.” — Anonymous
27. “When someone does something wrong, don’t forget all the things they did right.” — Anonymous
28. “The man who forgives is far stronger than the man who fights.” — Nathan Caroll
29. “Arguments drag out because one is too stubborn to forgive and the other is too proud to apologize.” — Anonymous
30. “Hate has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet.” — Maya Angelou
31. “Forgiveness keeps you from being bound by something the other person might never set right.” — Tony Evans
32. “If you can’t forgive and forget, pick one.” — Robert Brault
33. ”Hating someone makes them important. Forgiving hem makes them obsolete.” — Anonymous
34. “I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” — Anonymous
35. “Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals.” — Thomas S. Monson
36. “Your wound is probably not your fault. But your healing is your responsibility.” — Anonymous
37. “Forgive and forget. Not revenge and regret.” — Anonymous
38. “Your mistakes do not define you.” — Anonymous
39. “Until we have seen someone’s darkness, we don’t really know who they are. Until we have forgiven someone’s darkness, we don’t really know what love is.” — Marianne Williamson
40. “When one forgives, two souls are set free.” — Anonymous
41. “It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend.” — William Blake
42. “We are all in need of mercy.” — Anonymous
43. “I don’t think people understand that you can forgive a person and not allow them back into your life. That is possible, very possible.” — Alex Elle
44. “Relationships don’t thrive because the guilty are punished, but because the wounded are merciful.” — Max Lucado
45. “Sometimes the first step to forgiveness is understanding the other person is a complete idiot.” — Anonymous
46. “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” — Lewis B. Smedes
47. “In the blink of an eye, everything can change. So forgive often and love with all your heart. You may never have that chance again.” — Anonymous
48. “Forgiving them isn’t the hard part, it’s trying to trust them again.” — Anonymous
49. “I wish for you the wisdom to realize that forgiveness has nothing to do with an apology.” — Steve Maraboli
50. “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” — Mahatma Gandhi
51. “Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.” — William Arthur Ward
52. “Take forgiveness slowly. Don’t blame yourself for being slow. Peace will come.” — Yoko Ono
53. “Today I decided to forgive you. Not because you apologized, or because you acknowledged the pain you caused me, but because my soul deserves peace.” — Najwa Zebian
54. “Everybody makes mistakes. If you can’t forgive others, don’t expect others to forgive you.” — Anonymous
55. “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” — Thomas Szasz
56. “Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it’s such a powerful weapon.” — Nelson Mandela
57. “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” — Oscar Wilde
58. “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” — Mark Twain
59. “True forgiveness is when you can say, ‘Thank you for that experience.’” — Oprah Winfrey
60. “Forgiving isn’t something you do for someone else. It’s something you do for yourself.” — Jodi Picoult
61. “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” — Alexander Pope
62. “Somehow, forgiveness accomplishes miracles that can happen in no other way.” — Gordon B. Hinckley
63. “It’s OK if you fall down and lose your spark. Just make sure that when you get back up, you rise as the whole damn fire.” — Colette Werden
64. “When someone is working hard to change, the worst thing you can do is hold them to their past. Forgive them and help them transform.” — Anonymous
65. “You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress, simultaneously.” — Sophia Bush
66. “Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me. Forgiveness is the final act of love.” — Beyoncé
67. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
68. “Nobody’s perfect. We make mistakes. We say the wrong things. We do wrong things. We fall. We get up. We learn. We grow. We move on. We live.” — Anonymous
69. “People hurt each other. It happens to everyone intentionally, unintentionally, regretfully or not. It’s a part of what we do as people. The beauty is that we have the ability to heal and forgive.” — Adi Alsaid
70. “Forgiveness is not about the past, but the future.” — Anne Michaels
71. “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.” — Oprah Winfrey
72. “All friendships of any length are based on a continued, mutual forgiveness. Without tolerance and mercy, all friendships die.” — David Whyte
73. “Note to self: Before going to sleep every night, forgive everyone and sleep with a clean heart.” — Anonymous
74. "I believe forgiveness is the best form of love in any relationship. It takes a strong person to say they're sorry and an even stronger person to forgive.” — Yolanda Hadid
75. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
76. “Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness.” — Gerald Jampolsky
77. “Forgiveness isn’t just a blessing you deliver to another human being. Forgiveness is also a gift you give yourself.” — Robin S. Sharma
78. “Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.” — Hannah Arendt
79. “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
80. “Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you are.” — Cherie Carter-Scott
81. “Forgiveness is not always easy. At times it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.” — Marianne Williamson
82. “Forgiveness means it finally becomes unimportant that you hit back.” — Anne Lamott
83. “A marriage is the union of two good forgivers.” — Robert Quillen
84. “Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do because hate in your heart will consume you too.” — Will Smith
85. “Genuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head-on.” — Alice Duer
86. “The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.” — Marianne Williamson
87. “I have always found that mercy bears richer fruit than strict justice.” — Abraham Lincoln
88. “Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” — Paul Boese
89. “What I cannot love, I overlook.” — Anaïs Nin
90. “It's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.” — Maya Angelou
Use these words of wisdom to free yourself from the hate in your heart. It won't necessarily be an easy journey, but in the end, it is so worth it!
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Nicole Bradley-Bernard is a frequent contributor to YourTango.