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Quotes about forgiveness

53 quotes from 39 people

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For men use, if they have an evil turn, to write it in marble: and whoso doth us a good turn we write it in dust.
Thomas More1478–1535Richard III and His Miserable End (1543)
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.
Reinhold Niebuhr1892–1971The Irony of American History (1952), p. 63
- Virtue
To err is human, to forgive divine.
Alexander Pope1688–1744An Essay on Criticism (1711)In context
He who has injured thee was either stronger or weaker than thee. If weaker, spare him; if stronger, spare thyself.
Seneca the Younger5 BC–AD 65De Ira (On Anger); Book III, Chapter V
- Anger
Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595), Act III, Scene I, spoken by PrinceIn context
- Justice
As you from crimes would pardon’d be,
Let your indulgence set me free.
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Tempest (c. 1611), EpilogueIn context
- Freedom
The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest,
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Merchant of Venice (c. 1597), Act IV, Scene I, spoken by PortiaIn context
- Justice
Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods?
Draw near them then in being merciful.
Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Titus Andronicus (c. 1592), Act I, Scene I, spoken by TamoraIn context
- Character
No ceremony that to great ones longs,
Not the king’s crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal’s truncheon, nor the judge’s robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Measure for Measure (c. 1604), Act II, Scene II, spoken by IsabellaIn context
- Power
Those who understand evil pardon it.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Maxims for Revolutionists (1903), #167
- Good & Evil
Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing: age, which forgives itself everything, is forgiven nothing.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Maxims for Revolutionists (1903), #160
- Age
- Youth
For my part I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance.
Adlai Stevenson II1900–1965Response to a heckler asking him to state his beliefs, as quoted in Time magazine (1 November 1963)
To forget the wrongs you receive, is to remedy them.
PSPublilius Syrus101–101 BCThe Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave, Maxim 383
Pardon one offence and you encourage the commission of many.
PSPublilius Syrus101–101 BCSentences, Maxim 750
If her past were your past, her pain your pain, her level of consciousness your level of consciousness, you would think and act exactly as she does. With this realization comes forgiveness, compassion, peace.
Eckhart Tolleborn 1948Stillness Speaks (2003) (Ch 8)