Do you find it challenging to forgive?
It was almost 2,000 years ago that Marcus Cicero said, “Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive.”
Admittedly, the action of forgiving is not easy! Forgiveness is often a long and very emotional process. It involves stopping to feel angry or blame others.
Our hand-picked selection of quotes explores what throughout history philosophers, writers, the rich and the famous have said about forgiveness.
The quotes are sorted chronologically by birth date of the originator and provide a wide picture of the perception of forgiveness over the centuries. Feel inspired, forgive and please share this collection with your friends!
To be wronged is nothing,
unless you continue
to remember it.
Confucius
editor, politician, and philosopher)
Nothing is so praiseworthy,
nothing so clearly
shows a great and noble soul,
as clemency and readiness
to forgive.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
orator, political theorist, consul, and constitutionalist)
Everything we hear
is an opinion,
not a fact.
Everything we see
is a perspective,
not the truth.
Marcus Aurelius
Sweet mercy is
nobility’s true badge.
William Shakespeare
widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language)
He who cannot forgive
breaks the bridge
over which he himself must pass.
George Herbert
One forgives
to the degree
that one loves.
François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld,
Prince de Marcillac
To understand
is to forgive.
Blaise Pascal
inventor, writer and Christian philosopher)
To err is human,
to forgive, divine.
Alexander Pope,
In: An Essay on Criticism, line 525, part II
best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer)
Only the brave know
how to forgive…
A coward never forgives;
it is not in his nature.
Laurence Sterne
It is easier to forgive an enemy
than to forgive a friend.
William Blake
