Huge Collection of Forgiveness Quotes

Why is it that forgiveness quotes abound – both here on this page, and in collections of quotes, and in the prose of world literature?

The answer is simple: one of the most important things to us humans – perhaps THE most important thing – is to be happy … and unless we learn to forgive, we will have a very hard time being consistently happy.

Forgiving equals happiness for you.

It’s as simple as that.

Forgiving has very little to do with the one who did you wrong and a whole lot to do with YOU. It’s your happiness that’s at stake, not the happiness of the offender.

Forgiving is a decision, nothing more, but it is also a decision you’re not going to make unless you feel ready for it.

What does it take to feel ready to forgive? Understanding. Insight. Wisdom. Or, if you prefer: Knowledge. Know-how. Technique. As of of the more famous forgiveness quotes states:

Know all and you will pardon all.
~ Thomas á Kempis ~

You can LEARN to forgive.

Not only can you learn what forgiveness is, you can also learn HOW to forgive as well as a lot more about forgiving youself.

And as for practical examples you might check out the page Examples of Forgiveness – Learning to Forgive.

Dr. Fred Luskin (his website is called learningtoforgive.com) has shown that forgiving can be taught, and that it is good for you both mentally, emotionally and physically (lots of studies have confirmed this as well).

There are self improvement techniques that can help you forgive (see e.g. ‘The Work’ by Byron Katie, or ‘The Journey’ by Brandon Bays or my own ‘the Let Go Method’ (by Soren Lauritzen).

You can also learn WHY it is a good idea to forgive, and that is one of the main things which forgiveness quotes will tell you.

These forgiveness quotations may keep us on course and help us find the way while we walk the path towards learning to forgive – they can be like road signs on what sometimes seems like a complicated trip. Like friends for the journey they remind us that we are not alone, that others have been where we are today, and most of all: that forgiveness, healing and change for the better are possible.

As mentioned, quotes about forgiveness abound, so what you will find below is just a collection of what I personally think are some of the better forgiveness quotes:

Wise Forgiveness Quotes

Forgiveness equals inner peace and happiness for YOU; it has nothing to do with the offender.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~

The more you are able to forgive then the more you are able to love.
~ Stephen Richards ~ (from: ‘Forgiveness and Love Conquers All: Healing the Emotional Self’)

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

The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.
~ Abraham Lincoln ~

I can have peace of mind only when I forgive rather than judge.
~ Gerald Jampolsky ~

We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate; thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising.
~ Maya Angelou ~

Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.
~ Corrie Ten Boom ~

Don’t wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving; you will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made.
~ Neil Anderson ~

What I cannot love, I overlook.
~ Anaïs Nin ~

We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward.
~ Alison Croggon ~

Forgiveness is the fastest way to a spiritual path and inner peace of mind.
~ Muhaya Haji Mohamad ~

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 ~

Radical Forgiveness is much more than the mere letting go of the past. It is the key to creating the life that we want, and the world that we want. It is the key to our own happiness and the key to world peace. It is no longer an option. It is our destiny.
~ Colin Tipping ~

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

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
~ Mark Twain ~

Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge.
~ Isaac Friedmann ~

Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiples violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr. ~

If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
~ Moshe Dayan ~

Forgiveness does not overlook the deed. It rises above it.
~ Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela ~

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

The key to any long term relationship is for both of you to never ever be angry at the same time. Take turns forgiving and keep your love strong.
~ Quotes on Forgiveness ~

Forgiving the one who hurt you is only half your work – the other half is forgiving yourself and life for letting it happen.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~

Forgiveness is the key that can unshackle us from a past that will not rest in the grave of things over and done with. As long as our minds are captive to the memory of having been wronged, they are not free to wish for reconciliation with the one who wronged us.
~ Lewis B. Smedes ~

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~

To forgive is not just to be altruistic. It is the best form of self-interest.
~ Desmond Tutu ~ (from: ‘No Future without Forgiveness.’)

Don’t wait for other people to be loving, giving, compassionate, grateful, forgiving, generous, or friendly … lead the way!
~ Steve Maraboli ~

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
~ Attributed to both Kent Keith and Mother Teresa ~

Forgiveness is the economy of the heart. Forgiveness spares the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.
~ Hannah More ~

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

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.
~ Mahatma Gandhi ~

It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We need to learn from our errors and move on.
~ Steve Maraboli ~ (from: ‘Life, the Truth, and Being Free’)

The man who forgives is far stronger than the man who fights.
~ Nathan Croall ~

Baggage is a funny thing. The more you have of it, the heavier it becomes and the longer it takes to reach your destination in life.
~ Chloe Maxwell ~ (from: ‘Living With Max’)

Forgiveness has nothing to do with absolving a criminal of his crime. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim – letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor.
~ C. R. Strahan ~

Forgiveness is empowerment. When you forgive you demonstrate that you’re no longer a victim but in complete control of your experience.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~

Short and Funny Forgiveness Quotes

Life can be hard, and forgiveness even harder, but who said that hard precludes fun? It certainly doesn’t and using a funny quote by Mary Pettibone Poole (from: ‘A Glass Eye at the Keyhole’):

“He who laughs … lasts” we may realize that laughter is good for us, and so is a chuckle and a smile. If a bit of wisdom about forgiveness can be imparted at that same time, that’s even greater, right?

Hold a grudge and you choose to lose. Forgive a sin and you win.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~

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

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 ~

Everyone says that forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.
~ C. S. Lewis ~

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.
~ Nelson Mandela ~

Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.
~ Anne Lamott ~

The secret of a good marriage is forgiving your partner for marrying you in the first place.
~ Sacha Guitry ~

This life is for loving, sharing, learning, smiling, caring, forgiving, laughing, hugging, helping, dancing, wondering, healing, and even more loving. I choose to live life this way. I want to live my life in such a way that when I get out of bed in the morning, the devil says, ‘aw shit, he’s up!’
~ Steve Maraboli ~

To be social is to be forgiving.
~ Robert Frost ~

Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.
~ Robert Brault ~

Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.
~ William Arthur Ward ~

Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.
~ Marlene Dietrich ~

Life is an adventure in forgiveness.
~ Norman Cousins ~

One thing you will probably remember well is any time you forgive and forget.
~ Franklin P. Jones ~

We all screw up sometime. Forgiving ourselves is as close as we come to a system reset button.
~ Sharon A. Hartman ~

It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.
~ Grace Hopper ~

Revenge proves itself to be its own executioner.
~ John Ford ~

True forgiveness is when you can say, ‘Thank you for that experience.’
~ Oprah Winfrey ~

When you forgive, the body says, ‘Thank God.’
~ Edmond Manning ~

Most of us can forgive and forget; we just don’t want the other person to forget that we forgave.
~ Ivern Ball ~

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

The answer is more love, not less.
~ Peter Cajander ~

Forgiveness gives you back the laughter and the lightness in your life.
~ Joan Lunden ~

Forgive or relive!
~ Funny saying about forgiveness ~

You have the power to take away someone’s happiness by refusing to forgive. That someone is you.
~ Alan Cohen ~

Longer Forgiveness Quotes

Some of the following quotes on forgiveness are from books, others are not.

Common for all of them is the fact that they’re fairly long.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it allows the person being quoted a chance to elaborate – it bestows upon the quotes about forgiveness the possibility of added nuance. (And don’t worry, more short quotes on forgiveness will follow further down the page!)

By assuming responsibility for the hurt you have experienced, you cease being a victim and start being in control of your life. When you forgive both the offender for doing it and yourself for letting it happen you demonstrate the complete power you have to create the life experience you choose.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~

The unforgiving mind, contrasted with the forgiving mind, is confused, afraid and full of fear. It is certain of the interpretation it places on its perceptions of others. It is certain of the justification of its anger and the correctness of its condemning judgment. The unforgiving mind rigidly sees the past and future as the same and it is resistant to change. It does not want the future to be different from the past. The unforgiving mind sees itself as innocent and others as guilty. It thrives on conflict and on being right, and it sees inner peace as its enemy. It perceives everything as separate.
~ Gerald D. Jampolsky, M.D. ~

Amber Amundsen, a mother of two young children, whose 28-year-old husband was killed in the airplane attack on the Pentagon during September 11th 2001 made the following VERY powerful statement:

I have heard angry rhetoric by some Americans, including many of our nation’s leaders, who advise a heavy dose of revenge and punishment. To those leaders, I would like to make clear that my family and I take no comfort in your words of rage. If you choose to respond to this incomprehensible brutality by perpetuating violence against other innocent human beings, you may not do so in the name of justice for my husband. Your words and imminent acts of revenge only amplify our family’s suffering, deny us the dignity of remembering our loved one in a way that would have made him proud, and mock his vision of America as a peacemaker in the world community.
~ Amber Amundsen ~

The above words are echoed in the statement of Phyllis and Orlando Rodriguez, the parents of a man killed in the attack on the World Trade Center the same day in 2001:

… our government is heading in the direction of violent revenge, with the prospect of sons, daughters, parents, friends in distant lands dying, suffering, and nursing further grievances against us. It is not the way to go. It will not avenge our son’s death. Not in our son’s name.
~ Phyllis and Orlando Rodriguez ~

The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire. Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to
apologize and to accept an apology. Is there any problem that could not be solved among people who possessed the humility and largeness of spirit and soul to do either — or both — when needed?
~ Gordon B. Hinckley ~

We begin to forgive by choosing to forgive . . . by deciding, not by feeling. Our feelings don’t lead us to forgive. Most times, our feelings lead us the other way. That’s why a person has to decide to forgive first. Our feelings always follow along behind our decisions.
~ Andy Andrews ~ (from: ‘The Heart Mender: A Story of Second Chances’)

Keep in mind, hurting people often hurt other people as a result of their own pain. If somebody is rude and inconsiderate, you can almost be certain that they have some unresolved issues inside. They have some major problems, anger, resentment, or some heartache they are trying to cope with or overcome. The last thing they need is for you to make matters worse by responding angrily.
~ Joel Osteen ~

Forgiving is love’s toughest work, and love’s biggest risk. If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it can make you a doormat or an insufferable manipulator. Forgiving seems almost unnatural. Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay for the wrong they do. But forgiving is love’s power to break nature’s rule.
~ Lewis B. Smedes ~

[Four case] studies, taken as a whole, suggest that forgiveness may be taught and learned, and that the outcomes can be quite favorable. Across all of the studies, there was not one instance in which a group experiencing forgiveness education showed a decline in psychological health. In fact, statistically significant improvement in such variables as hope and self-esteem, as well as significant decreases in anxiety and depression, were more the rule than the exception.
~ Robert D. Enright & Catherine T. Coyle ~

Forgiveness does not necessarily mean reconciliation with the person that hurt you, or condoning of their action. What you are after is to find peace. Forgiveness can be defined as the “peace and understanding that come from blaming that which has hurt you less, taking the life experience less personally, and changing your grievance story.”
~ Fred Luskin ~

All violence is injustice. Responding to violence with violence is injustice, not only to the other person but also to oneself. Responding to violence with violence resolves nothing; it only escalates violence, anger and hatred. It is only with compassion that we can embrace and disintegrate violence. This is true in relationships between individuals as well as in relationships between nations.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~

At the time, I didn’t know what forgiveness meant. I wouldn’t really know what forgiveness meant for another year, until my pastor, Rick McKinley, happened to spell it out in a sermon. He said that when you forgive, you bear the burden somebody has given you without holding them accountable.
~ Donald Miller ~ (from: ‘To Own a Dragon: Reflections on Growing Up Without a Father’)

Forgiving does not mean excusing. Many people seem to think it does. They think that if you ask them to forgive someone who has cheated or bullied them you are trying to make out that there was really no cheating or bullying. But if that were so, there would be nothing to forgive. (This doesn’t mean that you must necessarily believe his next promise. It does mean that you must make every effort to kill every taste of resentment in your own heart – every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out.)
~ C.S. Lewis ~ (from: ‘Fern Seed and Elephants’)

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 ~

If you have an emotional reaction in the presence of someone, your heart is telling you that you have not resolved your issues with them. In other words, you have not truly forgiven that person. All of this begs the question, how do we forgive? First, cease lying to yourself and stop telling yourself stories about why you behave the way you do. Stop blaming your behavior on other people and take responsibility for your emotional reactions. If you could forgive all the people in your life who have hurt or wounded you it would be possible to be in control of your behavior instead of being in reaction to other people all of the time. Imagine living life without experiencing a constant emotional roller-coaster of pain, anger, and jealousy! That would be bliss!
~ Sheri Rosenthal ~

And what of regrets? I shall live with them. I shall accept my regrets as part of my life, to be numbered among my self-inflicted wounds. But I will not endlessly gaze at them. I shall allow the memories to prod me into doing better with those still living. And I shall allow them to sharpen the vision and intensify the hope for that Great Day coming when we can all throw ourselves into each other’s arms and say, “I’m sorry.”
~ Nicholas Wolterstorff ~ (from: ‘Lament for a Son’)

Great feuds often need very few words to resolve them. Disputes, even between nations, between peoples, can be set to rest with simple acts of contrition and corresponding forgiveness, can so often be shown to be based on nothing much other than pride and misunderstanding, and the forgetting of the humanity of the other – and land, of course.
~ Alexander McCall Smith ~ (from: ‘The Good Husband of Zebra Drive’)

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 ~

Unforgiveness Enslaves!

Resentment and bitterness keep us stuck in the past. Hardy anyone wishes or consciously aspires to grow into a bitter old man or a woman. Letting go of past hurts and wrongdoings plus the need to punish and get vengeance brings us healing. If we cannot let go of our resentment, we effectively enslave as well as poison ourselves, not just emotionally and mentally, but (as research shows) physically, too.

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

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.
~ Indira Gandhi ~

Listen. Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember.
~ Barbara Kingsolver ~ (from: ‘The Poisonwood Bible’)

Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners.
~ Miroslav Volf ~

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 ~

Forgiveness is the one gift you don’t give to others. Rather, it is the gift you give yourself so you can finally be free.
~ Shannon Alder ~

You must understand that if you indulge in revenge exclusively, it will come back to you, because those who are revenged upon – even if the whole world believes they deserve it – will in some way express exactly what was expressed towards them. Why perpetuate suffering, no matter how justified it may seem to be, if it only perpetuates suffering in the future for future generations?
~ Robert Shapiro ~

Forgiving is rediscovering the shining path of peace that at first you thought others took away when they betrayed you.
~ Dodinsky ~

It is not possible to achieve by vigilance in anger and revenge what the soul is longing for. The soul longs for peace.
~ James Forbes ~

Pride is at the root of much of our unforgiveness. Because pride can prevent us from forgiving, excessive pride is often a characteristic of the unforgiving person. That person believes, ‘I’m far more superior than the person who hurt me. I don’t need him (or her), so I don’t need to forgive.’
~ Goldie Bristol ~ (from: ‘When It’s Hard to Forgive’)

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

The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that that situation is over, you cannot move forward.
~ Steve Maraboli ~ (from: ‘Life, the Truth, and Being Free’)

Few suffer more than those who refuse to forgive themselves.
~ Mike Norton ~ (from: ‘Fighting For Redemption: Hangambiiki’)

Forgiveness is the key to the heart’s shackles.
~ Richard Paul Evans ~ (from: ‘Miles to Go ‘)

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.
~ Robert Frost ~

It may be infinitely worse to refuse to forgive than to murder, because the latter may be an impulse of a moment of heat; whereas the former is a cold and deliberate choice of the heart.
~ George MacDonald ~

I refuse to live life with unsettled differences.
~ John Paul Warren ~

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 ~

Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hate. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.
~ William Arthur Ward ~

Forgiveness means it finally becomes unimportant that you hit back. You’re done. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you want to have lunch with the person. If you keep hitting back, you stay trapped in the nightmare …
~ Anne Lamott ~

Forgiveness Takes Courage, but It Reminds Us that We Are Human – and Divine, Too!

For some reason we think that if we just hold on to that old grudge we punish the wrongdoer. But we don’t, because they don’t really care what we do, and so we’re really just punishing ourselves.

Learning to forgive ourselves and others may take ruthless self-examination and courage, but the rewards for doing it are so much greater than the momentary fear and pain you go through in a process of letting go.

We don’t forgive people because they deserve it. We forgive them because they need it – because we need it.
~ Bree Despain ~ (from: ‘The Dark Divine’)

All children should be taught to unconditionally accept, approve, admire, appreciate, forgive, trust, and ultimately, love their own person.
~ Asa Don Brown ~

The supreme act of courage is that of forgiving ourselves. That which I was not but could have been. That which I would have done but did not do. Can I find the fortitude to remember in truth, to understand, to submit, to forgive and to be free to move on in time?
~ Kauffman ~

If I cannot forgive myself
For all the blunders
That I have made
Over the years,
Then how can I proceed?
How can I ever
Dream perfection-dreams?
~ Sri Chinmoy ~

Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive.
~ W. Paul Young ~ (from: ‘The Shack ‘)

The possible redemption from the predicament of irreversibility – of being unable to undo what one has done – is the faculty of forgiving.
~ Hannah Arendt ~

There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.
~ Bryant H. McGill ~

Only after we can learn to forgive ourselves can we accept others as they are because we don’t feel threatened by anything about them which is better than us.
~ Stephen Covey ~

Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.
~ Nelson Mandela ~

It’s toughest to forgive ourselves. So it’s probably best to start with other people. It’s almost like peeling an onion. Layer by layer, forgiving others, you really do get to the point where you can forgive yourself.
~ Patty Duke ~

A broken friendship that is mended through forgiveness can be even stronger than it once was.
~ Stephen Richards ~ (from: ‘Forgiveness and Love Conquers All: Healing the Emotional Self’)

When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive.
~ Alan Paton ~

The ability to forgive and the ability to love are the weapons God has given us to live fully, bravely, and meaningfully in this less-than-perfect world.
~ Harold S. Kushner ~ (from: ‘When Bad Things Happen To Good People’)

Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.
~ Martin Luther King Jr. ~

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.
~ Peter Ustinov ~

I will live my life as an expression of the principles I believe in: empower, inspire, lead, learn, love, forgive, have faith and live.
~ Karl Karl Martino ~

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.
~ Alden Nowlan ~

The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.
~ Marianne Williamson ~

Holding on to anger, resentment and hurt only gives you tense muscles, a headache and a sore jaw from clenching your teeth. Forgiveness gives you back the laughter and the lightness in your life.
~ Joan Lunden ~

Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn’t mercy.
~ Timothy Keller ~

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

The one who forgives never brings up the past to that person’s face. When you forgive, it’s like it never happened. True forgiveness is complete and total.
~ Louis Zamperini ~

Forgive, son; men are men; they needs must err.
~ Euripides ~

To err is human, to forgive, divine.
~ Alexander Pope ~ (from: ‘An Essay on Criticism’)

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

Be humble and forgiving, it makes you resilient. Don’t be proud, it makes you rigid. Remember, grass withstands storms where trees get uprooted.
~ Quotes about Forgiveness ~

It is when judgment ceases that healing occurs.
~ Gerald Jampolsky & Diane Cirincione ~

Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.
~ Forgiveness saying ~

Now here’s a good one: you’re lying on your deathbed. You have one hour to live.

Who is it, exactly, you have needed all these years to forgive?
~ Louise Penny ~ (from: ‘A Fatal Grace’)

Forgiveness Transforms You, Others and the World!

Forgiveness has the power to transform our lives and to set something entirely new in motion. Our personal world softens with new dreams and hope. We are freed for love, peace, and generosity.

Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes.
~ W. Paul Young ~ (from: ‘The Shack’)

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 ~

If you or I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world.
~ Deepak Chopra ~

Forgive and give as if it were your last opportunity. Love like there’s no tomorrow, and if tomorrow comes, love again.
~ Max Lucado ~

As far as having peace within myself, the one way I can do that is forgiving the people who have done wrong to me. It causes more stress to build up anger. Peace is more productive.
~ Rodney King ~

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr. ~

If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.
~ Mother Theresa ~

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

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.
~ Maya Angelou ~

Lack of forgiveness causes almost all of our self-sabotaging behavior.
~ Mark Victor Hansen ~

Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.
~ Cherie Carter-Scott ~

Forgiveness is not an emotion, it’s a decision.
~ Randall Worley ~

When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~ (from: ‘Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life’)

Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.
~ Lewis Smedes ~

Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly.
~ Henri J.M. Nouwen ~

It is freeing to become aware that we do not have to be victims of our past and can learn new ways of responding. Forgiveness is love practiced among people who love poorly. It sets us free without wanting anything in return.
~ Henri Nouwen ~

There is a hard law. When an injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.
~ Alan Paton ~

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

Forgiveness Is Letting go!

Forgiveness is almost exactly the same as letting go. And letting go is so VERY beneficial for you. You could write books about just how beneficial it is … and in fact I have done so (see e.g.: Finding Inner Peace by Letting Go.)

Yep, when you forgive you give up our apparent rights and our apparently justified demands for vengeance and punishment, but who is it who is holding those poisonous thoughts and feelings of resentment and hate, anyway? It’s you. You’re holding them in your mind and in your feelings, and so they’re inside of you, slowly poisoning you.

Maybe it is time to let them go and relieve yourself? Forgiveness is a gift that appears costly but which really is free – it costs you nothing and you lose nothing worth keeping but you gain a lot. Forgiving is an act of unmerited love, which will benefit not the wrongdoer but you. It is freedom, love and the potential happiness … for you!

Forgiveness is letting go of all sorts of nastiness like hate, resentment, bitterness, hurt and much more. Who would want to hold on to shit like that, anyway?
~ Soren Lauritzen ~

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each person’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~

When we judge, we are pushing people away; we are creating a wall, a barrier. When we forgive we are destroying barriers, we come closer to others.
~ Jean Vanier ~

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 Estés ~

Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person’s throat.
~ W. Paul Young ~ (from: ‘The Shack’)

When guilt rears its ugly head confront it, discuss it and let it go. The past is over. It is time to ask what can we do right, not what did we do wrong. Forgive yourself and move on. Have the courage to reach out for help.
~ Bernie S. Siegel ~

Forgive. It doesn’t erase their crime but why should you do the time. Let go of resentment.
~ Dodinsky ~

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
~ Erich Fromm ~

When you initially forgive, it is like letting go of a hot iron. There is initial pain and the scars will show, but you can start living again.
~ Stephen Richards ~ (from: ‘Releasing You From The Past: Healing Past Hurt Through Forgiveness’)

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 ~

Forgiveness means letting go of the past.
~ Gerald G. Jampolsky ~

You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.
~ C. JoyBell C. ~

The process of forgiveness is letting go, like if you were tied to a rock that is pulling you under the water, and all you have to do is untie it to be free.
~ Dr. Ray Smith ~

When you let go of the wicked thoughts and feelings you’ve been harboring about the ones who hurt you, you not only feel lighter and more free, you feel more lovable and loved, you feel happier. That’s the power of forgiveness, the power of letting go.
~ Soren Lauritzen ~

Quotes about forgiveness give us the courage and strength to do a new thing, and to be and act differently in the present moment. As Desmond Tutu said, “Without forgiveness,
there’s no future.”

Listed in 2011 by the Watkins Review as “The most spiritually influential person in the world”, Eckhart Tolle has a powerful reputation.

Known for his rousing motivational speeches, as well as his writing, Eckhart Tolle quotes are considered as unconventional, as they are moving and uplifting.

“Stillness is the only thing in this world that has no form. But then, it is not really a thing and it is not of this world.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Don’t look for peace. Don’t look for any other state than the one you are in now; otherwise, you will set up inner conflict and unconscious resistance.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Carl Jung tells in one of his books of a conversation he had with a Native American chief who pointed out to him that in his perception most white people have tense faces, staring eyes, and a cruel demeanor. He said: “They are always seeking something. What are they seeking? The whites always want something. They are always uneasy and restless. We don’t know what they want. We think they are mad.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

The Beginning …

Eckhart Tolle was born in 1948, in Lunen, Germany.

Unfortunately, Tolle’s parents were not happily married and Eckhart Tolle quotes his childhood as being “a period of permanent sadness”.

Frequent arguments and fights between his parents meant Tolle was unhappy at home, and unfortunately he couldn’t even escape this sadness in school. Eckhart Tolle says going to school was a “hostile experience” where he had little in the way of friends or indeed anyone who paid more than a passing interest.

When Tolle was 13, his continually-warring parents decided to divorce and Tolle, who decided to stay with his Father, was promptly moved to Spain. For reasons unknown, Tolle’s father did not force the issue of education and Eckhart Tolle finds this a godsend to him, as he chose to stay at home and study astronomy, language and literature.

Eckhart Tolle quotes German mystic Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken as having a profound effect on his life after reading several of his books.

Tolle moved to England when he was 19, where he was to teach language, Spanish and German, in a number of London schools.

Although anxiety and depression blighted Tolle’s life, he believes it was also the reason he decided to go back into education at the age of 23, studying psychology, philosophy and literature at the University of London. Upon graduating, Tolle was offered a research scholarship at Cambridge, which he said he gladly accepted.

It was in 1977, Eckhart Tolle had a life-changing epiphany after suffering crippling depression and bouts of suicidal thoughts. He describes his experience as being “deeply profound”, as he had woken with a start on a cold night in 1977, questioning whether he really wanted to carry on living.

He continues by saying that his “inner-self” asked him questions, such as “What is the self?”, “Was it mind-made or a manifestation of events that had happened through his life”. Tolle said he then felt extreme feelings of peace, which continued into the next day. Eckhart Tolle quotations at the time said ” it was like a miracle, everything was incredibly peaceful. Even the usual noisy London traffic”.

Eckhart Tolle’s epiphany had a tremendous effect on his life, as he quickly dropped out of his University scholarship in favor of sitting in public areas “people watching” and ” generally watching the world go by”. Over the next two years he had a number of experiences, including spending several nights sleeping rough on Hampstead Heath and staying in a Buddhist Monastery.

Eckhart Tolle quotes this period of his life as being “intensely blissful” and he was constantly inspired by the simple things in life. While Tolle’s friends and family were convinced he had gone insane, Tolle insists he went through a transformation that evening – that not only saved his life, but made him what he is today.

“Why is old considered useless? Because in old age, the emphasis shifts from doing to Being, and our civilization, which is lost in doing, knows nothing of Being. It asks: Being? What do you do with it?”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“For what you do to others, you do to yourself”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Forgive yourself for not being peace.The moment you completely accept your non-peace, your non-peace becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Just as without silence there could be no sound, you would not exist without the vital formless dimension that is the essence of who you are.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“The other more serious reason for the illusion of separateness is compulsive thinking. It is when we are trapped in incessant streams of compulsive thinking that the universe really disintegrates for us, and we lose the ability to sense the interconnectedness of all that exists.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Look closely and you will find that your thinking and behavior are designed to keep the pain going, for yourself and others. If you were truly conscious of it, the pattern would dissolve, for to want more pain is insanity, and nobody is consciously insane.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

Eckhart Tolle’s Work

Eckhart Tolle’s epiphany and subsequent behavior led him to become a spiritual teacher, relocating to the flagship of alternative living – Glastonbury.

He spent five hugely successful years there, teaching a variety of students and generally enjoying the life he had once seen no point in.

He eventually emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia where he met, as Eckhart Tolle quotes, “another great influence on his life” his wife – Kim Eng.

Tolle’s first book was published in 1997 and Eckhart Tolle quotes in a newspaper article that “I would hand-deliver my books to stores around Vancouver and friends would request copies of the book in different stores across the world”.

Three years later and the book’s success was minimal however, a mention from Oprah Winfery in her magazine “O” saw Tolle’s book rocket up to the number one spot on the New York’s Best seller List in just 8-months. To date, the book has sold an estimated six million copies and it has been translated into 33 different languages.

Tolle’s second book, “Stillness Speaks” was published in 2003 and his third, “A New Earth” in 2005. The latter made the number one spot on the New York’s Best-seller List several times in 2008 and still remains one of Tolle’s most popular publications.

Eckhart Tolle quotes Oprah Winfery as having been a big influence on his writing career, after she mentioned his book “A New Earth” on a Book Club segment of her show, it sold a record 3.5 million copies in just under a month.

Tolle and Oprah went on to work together, on a selection of webinars that encouraged people to contact the pair with their thoughts on Tolle’s book, as well as any other questions they may have. One webinar, the third in the series, Eckhart Tolle names as being the most popular – with a staggering 11 million viewers.

Eckhart Tolle went on to create his own company, to sell his own products and copies of his teachings, called Eckhart Teachings. He spends much of his time now traveling around the world, giving speeches at various engagements and leading workshops.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Eckhart Tolle quotes his distaste at “creating a commercial structure”. He wants the message behind his company to remain the same, rather than it become self-serving.

Read more about Eckhart Tolle and his books here.

“Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“You don’t have to wait for something “meaningful” to come into your life so that you can finally enjoy what you do. There is more meaning in joy than you will ever need. The “waiting to start living” syndrome is one of the most common delusions of the unconscious state.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“So give up waiting as a state of mind. When you catch yourself slipping into waiting … snap out of it. Come into the present moment. Just be, and enjoy being. If you are present, there is never any need for you to wait for anything. So next time somebody says, “Sorry to have kept you waiting,” you can reply, “That’s all right, I wasn’t waiting. I was just standing”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“When you want to arrive at your goal more than you want to be doing what you are doing, you become stressed.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Not what you do, but how you do what you do determines whether you are fulfilling your destiny. And how you do what you do is determined by your state of consciousness.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“You will enjoy any activity in which you are fully present …”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

Fans and Critics

Eckhart Tolle’s books have won him plenty of enthusiastic praise but they have also received their fair share of criticism too. Eckhart Tolle quotes one review of his book “A New Earth” that claimed it to be “awash with spiritual mumbo-jumbo” as being particularly harsh.

He has also received intense criticism from the New York Times, who described his books as being “unimaginative and unoriginal”. The editor of Publisher’s Weekly even went as far as saying that Tolle’s success was pure chance and that he had tapped into the average American’s need to be happier and more successful at just the right time.

Fortunately, the praise Tolle has received has far outweighed any criticism and quotes by Eckhart Tolle confirm it is these that he focuses on. Tolle even has fans in the Christian Theologian circle, an area where people have always been sceptical about Tolle’s teachings. He has even received words of encouragement from Thomas Keating, a Catholic monk and an Anglican Bishop.

“The secret of life is to “die-before-you-die” – and find that there is no death”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Give up defining yourself – to yourself or to others. You won’t die. You will come to life. And don’t be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it’s their problem. Whenever you interact with people, don’t be there primarily as a function or a role, but as the field of conscious Presence. You can only lose something that you have, but you cannot lose something that you are.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

And So …

Thanks to modern technology, Eckhart Tolle is as popular today as he ever was.

First, by sharing chosen teachings via his own dedicated YouTube channel and his own video website, the aptly named “Eckhart Tolle TV”.

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When asked about his most memorable moments, Eckhart Tolle quotes his attendance at the first ever conference of the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment – which he was lucky enough to headline with popular comedian, Jim Carrey.

However, Tolle admits nothing can eclipse the Vancouver Peace Summit, where he, among other speakers, appeared with the Dalai Lama himself.

Funnily enough, despite Eckhart Tolle’s self help books and motivational books topping favorite charts for years, Eckhart Tolle quotes his recent book “Guardians of Being”. Not, he says, because it a picture book but because he was fortunate enough to have the creator of his favorite childhood comic strip illustrate it for him.

“Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“Accept – then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

“You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

Go to the page about Eckhart Tolle and his books, or jump directly to the main page for all the good quotes.