This faculty of forgiveness is not a form of magnanimous forgetting or overlooking, neither is it a gesture of superiority whereby the slate is wiped clean. It is the very breath of life itself—the giving of all to all and for all.

^{Alice Bailey}

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.

^{Luke 6:37}

Forgiveness is sacrifice, and is the giving up of one's self, even of one's very life, for the sake of others and for the good of the whole group.

^{Alice Bailey}

For ’tis sweet to stammer one letter
Of the Eternal’s language—on earth it is
called Forgiveness!

^{Henry Wadsworth Longfellow}

Be praised, my Lord, for those who for Thy love forgive,
Contented unavenged in quiet to live.
Bless those who in the way of peace are found—
By thee, O Lord Most High, they shall be crowned!

^{Saint Francis of Assisi}

We must be willing to forgive without limit even as God forgives; otherwise we cannot be forgiven. Of course, we must be willing to live out our forgiveness in restoring and repairing where we have done wrong. Being forgiven means joining all others in the common responsibility of putting things right before God and with one another.

^{Nels F.S. Ferre}

And Thou, O Lord! by whom are seen
Thy creatures as they be,
Forgive me if too close I lean
My human heart on Thee!

^{John Greenleaf Whittier}

What is the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven? It is this: that we should forgive one another—then God will forgive us too; that we should love one another— then God will love us too. And if it is in this that we find our happiness on earth, then the Kingdom of Heaven is with us.

^Paracelsus

Forgiveness is the greatest and most incomprehensible miracle of the love of God because in it God communicates Himself to a human being who in the seeming banality of everyday life has had the effrontery to say No to God.

^{Karl Rahner}

When God forgives, he does not simply pronounce or simply record a sentence; when God forgives, the well-spring of life turns from bitter to sweet, the acid of sin ceases to corrode, and living waters irrigate the soul. We stop shriveling, we begin to grow.

^{Austin Farrer}

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

^{Mahatma Gandhi}

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}

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

^{Roberto Assagioli}

To err is human, to forgive divine.

^{Alexander Pope}

Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.

^{Jean Paul Richter}

Without forgiveness, there is no future.

^{Desmond Tutu}