Our
anger and annoyance are more detrimental to us than
the things themselves which anger or annoy us.
--Marcus Aurelius
Whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the
other also.
-- The Bible, Matthew 5:39
There
is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.
-- Josh Billings
Life
appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity
or registering wrongs.
-- Charlotte Bronte
 |
"Forgiving
is one of the most difficult things for a
human being to do, but I think it means looking
at some slight you feel, putting yourself
in the position of the other person, and wiping
away any sort of resentment and antagonism
you feel toward them. Then let that other
person know that everything is perfectly friendly
and normal between you."
~ Jimmy
Carter
|
Forgo
your anger for a moment and save yourself a hundred
days of trouble.
-- Chinese proverb
"The
man who opts for revenge should dig two graves."
-- Chinese proverb
The
price of hating other human beings is loving oneself
less.
-- Elderidge Cleaver
"I
think forgiveness is an aspect of our humanity. I
think a lot of as are brought up to believe that if
we don't somehow forgive, whatever it is that's ailing,
troubling, angering, enraging or shaming us, or getting
us in any way worked up, is going to live longer without
forgiveness, whether it's ourselves or others we're
forgiving."
-- Robert Coles
We
plant seeds that will flower as results in our
lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger,
avarice, envy and doubt, that peace and abundance
may manifest for all.
-- Dorothy
Day |
|
|
|
For
every minute you remain angry, you give up
sixty seconds of peace of mind.
-- Ralph
Waldo Emerson
Finish
each day and be done with it. You have done
what you could; some blunders and absurdities
have crept in; forget them as soon as you
can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin
it serenely and with too high a spirit to
be encumbered with your old nonsense
-- Ralph
Waldo Emerson
|
"Forgiving
is an act of mercy toward an offender. We are no longer
controlled by angry feelings toward this person."
-- Robert D. Enright
"Forgiveness
works directly on the emotion of anger (and related
constructs such as resentment, hostility, or hatred)
by diminishing its intensity or level within the mind
and heart."
-- Richard Fitzgibbons
|
"Before
we can forgive one another, we have to understand
one another."
-- Emma
Goldman
|
|
"To
forgive is to set yourself free, to acknowledge that
it does no good to hate. Hate really, really destroys
both the other person and yourself. That realization
is what I think taught me about forgiveness, and so
I try to live by it."
--Ruby Bridges Hall
 |
Our
capacity to make peace with another person
and with the world depends very much on our
capacity to make peace with ourselves.
-- Thich
Nhat Hanh
|
"Forgiveness
does not equal forgetting. It is about healing the
memory of the harm, not erasing it."
-- Ken Hart
"Forgiveness
does not stand on its own. It is not "unilateral disarmament."
Rather it balances self-criticism with commitment
to nonviolent social change, which becomes a way of
life that does not offer easy answers to complex problems."
-- Karen Hessel
You
know you have forgiven someone when he or she has
harmless passage through your mind.
-- Rev. Karyl Huntley
Forgiveness
is a gift you give to yourself. It is not something
you do FOR someone else.
-- Larry James
"Forgiveness
is an act of the imagination. It dares you to imagine
a better future, one that is based on the blessed
possibility that your hurt will not be the final word
on the matter. It challenges you to give up your destructive
thoughts about the situation and to believe in the
possibility of a better future. It builds confidence
that you can survive the pain and grow from it. "
-- Larry James
|
In
spite of the fact that the law of revenge
solves no social problems, men continue to
follow its disastrous leading. History is
cluttered with the wreckage of nations and
individuals that pursued this self-defeating
path."
--
Martin
Luther King, Jr
|
 |
"Forgiveness
is primarily for our own sake, so that we no longer
carry the burden of resentment. But to forgive does
not mean we will allow injustice again."
--Jack Kornfield
Since
nothing can be forgiven for us that is not first forgiven
by and through us, there is only one species of forgiveness:
self-forgiveness.
-- Noel McInnis
"When
you forgive, you in no way change the past -- but
you sure do change the future."
-- Bernard Meltzer.
|
To
forgive is the highest, most beautiful form
of love. In return, you will receive untold
peace and happiness.
--
Robert
Muller
|
|
"Forgiveness
offers the possibility of two types of peace: peace
of mind -- the potential healing of old emotional
wounds, and peace with others -- the possibility of
new, more gratifying relationships in the future."
-- Kenneth I. Pargament & Mark S. Rye
"When
a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until
we forgive."
-- Alan Paton
Five
enemies of peace inhabit with us - avarice, ambition,
envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished,
we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.
-- Petrarch
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
One
pardons to the degree that one loves.
-- Francios De La Rochefoucauld
“When
will our consciences grow so tender that
we will act to prevent human misery rather
than avenge it?”
-- Eleanor
Roosevelt
|

|
 |
If
we really want to love, we must learn how
to forgive.
-- Mother
Theresa
|
"It
takes courage and commitment to act in a more forgiving
fashion. It is not at all a sign of weakness but a
mark of strength."
-- Carl Thorensen
Genuine
forgiveness is participation, reunion overcoming the
powers of estrangement. . . We cannot love unless
we have accepted forgiveness, and the deeper our experience
of forgiveness is, the greater is our love.
-- Paul Tillich
|
"Forgiveness
is taking seriously the awfulness of what
has happened when you are treated unfairly.
Forgiveness is not pretending that things
are other than the way they are."
-- Desmond
Tutu
"Forgiveness
and reconciliation are not just ethereal,
spiritual, other-worldly activities. They
have to do with the real world. They are realpolitik,
because in a very real sense, without forgiveness,
there is no future."
-- Desmond
Tutu
|
|
 |
Forgiveness
is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel
that has crushed it.
-- Mark
Twain
|
Always
forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
-- Oscar Wilde
 |
The
practice of forgiveness is our most important
contribution to the healing of the world.
-- Marianne
Williamson
|
"If
I hold a grudge because I'm angry, I feel strong.
But to set that anger aside takes real strength."
-- Everett L. Worthington, Jr.
"Until
recently, the tools of science have not been employed
to investigate forgiveness. The new wave of research
we've begun, however, has the potential to reveal
the profound value of forgiveness in our lives --
information that could reduce human misery and increase
the quality of life worldwide."
-- Everett L. Worthington, Jr.
www.ForgivenessDay.net
www.ReconciliationDay.com