Here’s a list of 30 short quotes to teach forgiveness, sorted by categories, with additional details including the year, profession, and lifespan of the person:
From Entertainment and Actors:
- “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.” – Al Pacino, Actor (April 25, 1940 – Present)
- “It’s not what they call you, it’s what you answer to.” – LeVar Burton, Actor (February 16, 1957 – Present)
- “Forgiveness is the needle that knows how to mend.” – Jewel Kilcher, Singer and Songwriter (May 23, 1974 – Present)
- “Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” – Bruce Lee, Actor and Martial Artist (November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973)
From Celebrities and Leaders
- “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” – Mahatma Gandhi, Leader of Indian Independence Movement (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948)
- “Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” – Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (November 19, 1917 – October 31, 1984)
- “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” – Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Leader (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)
- “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.” – Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Leader (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)
- “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.” – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963)
From Poets and Philosophers:
- “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” – Alexander Pope, Poet (May 21, 1688 – May 30, 1744)
- “Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.” – George MacDonald, Author and Poet (December 10, 1824 – September 18, 1905)
- “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” – Oscar Wilde, Playwright and Poet (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900)
- “He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself.” – George Herbert, Poet and Orator (April 3, 1593 – March 1, 1633)
From Literature and Authors:
- “Forgive others not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie, Author (November 13, 1941 – Present)
- “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” – Mark Twain, Author (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)
- “Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before you learned it.” – Maya Angelou, Poet and Author (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014)
- “The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.” – Honoré de Balzac, Novelist (May 20, 1799 – August 18, 1850)
- “Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.” – William Arthur Ward, Author and Educator (December 17, 1921 – March 30, 1994)
- “Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours.” – Phillips Brooks, Clergyman and Author (December 13, 1835 – January 23, 1893)
- “Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person’s throat.” – William P. Young, Author (May 11, 1955 – Present)
From Spiritual Leaders and Activists:
- “There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” – Bryant H. McGill, Author and Activist (November 7, 1969 – Present)
- “The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.” – Marianne Williamson, Author and Spiritual Leader (July 8, 1952 – Present)
- “Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.” – Desmond Tutu, Archbishop and Human Rights Activist (October 7, 1931 – December 26, 2021)
- “Without forgiveness, there’s no future.” – Desmond Tutu, Archbishop and Human Rights Activist (October 7, 1931 – December 26, 2021)
- “When a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.” – Alan Paton, Writer and Anti-apartheid Activist (January 11, 1903 – April 12, 1988)
From Entrepreneurs and Scholars:
- “Forgiveness is the economy of the heart.” – Hannah More, Writer and Philanthropist (February 2, 1745 – September 7, 1833)
- “Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.” – Hannah Arendt, Political Theorist (October 14, 1906 – December 4, 1975)
- “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” – Lewis B. Smedes, Theologian (October 12, 1921 – December 19, 2002)
- “Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” – Paul Boese, Businessman and Author (August 21, 1923 – July 9, 1976)
- “Forgiveness is the final form of love.” – Reinhold Niebuhr, Theologian and Ethicist (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971)