Top 100 Forgiveness Quotes (2025 Update)

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

— Mahatma Gandhi

Also featured in: Quotes About Strength, Famous Quotes, Important Quotes, Inspiring Quotes

2. “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different, it’s accepting the past for what it was, and using this moment and this time to help yourself move forward.”

— Oprah Winfrey

Also featured in: Recovery Quotes, Mental Health Quotes, Healing Quotes

3. “Forgiveness is a gift to yourself. It frees you from the past, past experiences, and past relationships. It allows you to live in the present time. When you forgive yourself and forgive others, you are indeed free.”

— Louise Hay

Also featured in: Recovery Quotes, Mental Health Quotes, Healing Quotes

4. “Nothing in the Christian life is more important than forgiveness-our forgiveness of others and God’s forgiveness of us.”

— John F. MacArthur

Also featured in: Forgiving Quotes

5. “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

— C. S. Lewis

Also featured in: Christian Quotes, Sunday Quotes, Morality Quotes, Values Quotes

6. “I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

— C. S. Lewis

Also featured in: Christian Motivational Quotes, Morality Quotes, Sunday Inspirational Quotes

7. “Forgiveness is setting the prisoner free, only to find out that the prisoner was me.”

— Corrie ten Boom

Also featured in: Christian Motivational Quotes, Emotion Quotes, Grace Quotes, Healing Quotes

8. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

— Paul the Apostle

Also featured in: Christian Quotes, Scripture Quotes, Compassion Quotes, Virtue Quotes

9. “You never so touch the ocean of God’s love as when you forgive and love your enemies.”

— Corrie ten Boom

Also featured in: Scripture Quotes, Love Is Quotes, Quotes About Ocean

10. “There is no future without forgiveness.”

— Nelson Mandela

Also featured in: Harmony Quotes, Forgiving Quotes

11. “Let us forgive each other – only then will we live in peace.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Also featured in: Be Kind Quotes, Inner Peace Quotes

12. “The only way to peace is forgiveness.”

— Pope John Paul II

Also featured in: Harmony Quotes, Forgiving Quotes

13. “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 and peace.”

— Eckhart Tolle

Also featured in: Empathy Quotes, Inner Peace Quotes, Awakening Quotes

14. “Be like a flower that gives its fragrance even to the hand that crushed it.”

— Ali ibn Abi Talib

Also featured in: Positive Inspirational Quotes, Emotional Quotes, Kindness Quotes, Compassion Quotes

15. “The past doesn’t determine your future unless you carry it with you into the present. Forgiving yourself and others, you free the universe to begin again at any moment.”

— Marianne Williamson

Also featured in: Inner Peace Quotes, New Beginnings Quotes, Motivational Quotes for Women, Wellness Wednesday Quotes

16. “Confession is an act of honesty and courage – an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.”

— Pope John Paul II

Also featured in: Good Friday Quotes, Guilt Quotes, Ash Wednesday Quotes

17. “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do. But it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.”

— Dale Carnegie

Also featured in: Encouragement Quotes, Life Philosophy Quotes, Sunday Inspirational Quotes, Wise Quotes

18. “Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.”

— Lily Tomlin

19. “You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.”

— Nelson Mandela

Also featured in: Morality Quotes, Kindness Quotes, Peace Quotes, Quotes About Humanity

20. “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.”

— Oprah Winfrey

Also featured in: Sunday Inspirational Quotes, Feel Better Quotes, Sunday Motivational Quotes, Healing Quotes

21. “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.”

— Nelson Mandela

Also featured in: Motivational Work Quotes, Empowerment Quotes, Sunday Inspirational Quotes, Friday Motivational Quotes

22. “To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Also featured in: Grace Quotes, Quotes About Hope, Compassion Quotes, Meaning of Life Quotes

23. “God buries our sins in the depths of the sea and then puts up a sign that reads, “No fishing.””

— Corrie ten Boom

Also featured in: Scripture Quotes, Christian Motivational Quotes, Grace Quotes, Wednesday Inspirational Quotes

24. “Your sin is not greater than God’s mercy.”

— Nouman Ali Khan

Also featured in: Scripture Quotes, Blessed Quotes, Friday Inspirational Quotes, Grace Quotes

25. “Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”

— John Newton

Also featured in: Christian Quotes, Grace Quotes, Salvation Quotes, Soul Quotes

26. “The difference between mercy and grace? Mercy gave the prodigal son a second chance. Grace gave him a feast.”

— Max Lucado

Also featured in: Christian Quotes, Scripture Quotes, Friday Inspirational Quotes, Grace Quotes

27. “A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.”

— Ruth Bell Graham

Also featured in: Romantic Quotes, Love Is Quotes, Couple Quotes, Family Quotes

28. “The noblest revenge is to forgive.”

— Thomas Fuller

Also featured in: Peace Quotes, Compassion Quotes, Virtue Quotes, Wednesday Inspirational Quotes

29. “Love is forgiving and Love is for giving.”

— Wayne W. Dyer

Also featured in: Love Quotes, Acceptance Quotes, Be Kind Quotes, Compassion Quotes

30. “I forgive myself for not being perfect. I am living the very best way I know how.”

— Louise Hay

Also featured in: Self-Esteem Quotes, Acceptance Quotes, Self-Love Quotes, Love You Quotes, Healing Quotes

31. “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.”

— Thomas Stephen Szasz

Also featured in: Wise Quotes, Letting Go Quotes

32. “The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.”

— Steve Maraboli

Also featured in: Acceptance Quotes, Moving On Quotes, Peace Quotes, Healing Quotes

33. “Free your heart from hatred – forgive. Free your mind from worries – most never happen. Live simply and appreciate what you have. Give more. Expect less.”

— Stephen R. Covey

Also featured in: Perspective Quotes, Life Is Short Quotes, Peace Quotes, Compassion Quotes

34. “Harboring unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping your enemy will die.”

— Joyce Meyer

Also featured in: Inner Peace Quotes, Hurt Quotes

35. “There is no peace without justice, and no justice without forgiveness.”

— Pope John Paul II

Also featured in: Peace Quotes, Justice Quotes

36. “Don’t ever think that the sin of your past means there is no hope for your future.”

— John Piper

Also featured in: Christian Motivational Quotes, Morality Quotes, Grace Quotes, Past Quotes

37. “Karma means that all actions have consequences. Grace means that in a moment of atonement -taking responsibility, making amends, asking for forgiveness – all karma is burned.”

— Marianne Williamson

Also featured in: Responsibility Quotes, Karma Quotes

38. “To celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation means to be wrapped in a warm embrace.”

— Pope Francis

Also featured in: You Are Loved Quotes

39. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

— Paul the Apostle

Also featured in: Scripture Quotes, Blessed Quotes, Be Kind Quotes, Harmony Quotes

40. “You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love.”

— Cheryl Strayed

Also featured in: Empathy Quotes, Kindness Quotes, Quotes About Heart, Love Is Quotes

41. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

— John the Baptist

Also featured in: Scripture Quotes, Faith Quotes, Grace Quotes, Salvation Quotes, Sacrifice Quotes

42. “If we do an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we will be a blind and toothless nation.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Also featured in: Peace Quotes, Rejection Quotes

43. “Without memory, there is no healing. Without forgiveness, there is no future.”

— Desmond Tutu

Also featured in: Fun Quotes, Quotes About Memories

44. “It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.”

— Jeffrey R. Holland

Also featured in: Blessing Quotes, Sunday Morning Quotes, Grace Quotes, Discipleship Quotes, Salvation Quotes

45. “When you look deeply into your anger, you will see that the person you call your enemy is also suffering. As soon as you see that, the capacity of accepting and having compassion for them is there.”

— Nhat Hanh

Also featured in: Empathy Quotes, Mindfulness Quotes, Compassion Quotes, Suffering Quotes

46. “It all begins with forgiveness, because to heal the world, we first have to heal ourselves. And to heal the kids, we first have to heal the child within, each and every one of us.”

— Michael Jackson

Also featured in: Quotes About Children, Quotes About Kids

47. “Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.”

— Steve Maraboli

Also featured in: Quotes About Heart, Hurt Quotes, Grief Quotes

48. “You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day.”

— M.L. Stedman

49. “I am a great Sinner and God is a great Savior.”

— John Newton

Also featured in: Sunday Quotes, Grace Quotes, Salvation Quotes

50. “It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

Also featured in: Empathy Quotes, Harmony Quotes