80 Forgiveness Quotes: Letting Go and Moving Forward

Forgiveness is a powerful act that brings healing, peace, and freedom to our lives.

To inspire this important journey, we’ve gathered the best forgiveness quotes for your next post.

And if you’re looking for thoughtful and heartfelt sayings about letting go and moving forward, we also have you covered.

Now go ahead and browse through to find your favorite.

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Our Favorite Forgiveness Quotes

“Forgiveness is the best revenge.” — Imam Ali

“Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies.” — Nelson Mandela

“Let go. Why do you cling to pain?” — Rumi

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” — Paul Boese

“There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” — Bryant H. McGill

“Life is an adventure in forgiveness.” — Norman Cousins

“Forgiveness is a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on.” — Dr. Steve Maraboli

“It takes a strong person to say sorry, and an even stronger person to forgive.” — Unknown

“Forgiveness is the needle that knows how to mend.” — Jewel

“The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.” — Marianne Williamson

“And whoever is patient and forgives – indeed, that is of the matters [worthy] of resolve.” — Quran 42:43

“Forgiveness doesn’t make the other person right, it makes you free.” — Stormie Omartian

“Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free and realising you were the prisoner!” — Max Lucado

“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.” — Corrie ten Boom

“Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass.” — Confucius

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.” — Martin Luther King

“To begin loving people today, we must close the door on the past. And that cannot happen without forgiveness! Forgive those who have hurt you for your sake, not because they deserve it.” — Rick Warren

“You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.” — Lewis B. Smedes

“Whatever our religion, we know that if we really want to love, we must first learn to forgive before anything else.” — Mother Teresa

“We all agree that forgiveness is a beautiful idea until we have to practice it.” — C. S. Lewis

“When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.” — Bernard Meltzer

“The hatred you’re carrying is a live coal in your heart far more damaging to yourself than to them.” — Lawana Blackwell

“Good to forgive, best to forget.” — Robert Browning

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” — Martin Luther King

“Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self giving love.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“Forgiveness is a sign that the person who has wronged you means more to you than the wrong they have dealt.” — Ben Greenhalgh

“True forgiveness is when you can say, thank you for that experience.” — Oprah Winfrey

“Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.” — H. Jackson Brown

“To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.” — Robert Muller

“Without forgiveness, there is no future.” — Desmond Tutu

“Forgiveness is the final form of love.” — Reinhold Niebuhr

“Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.” — Marianne Williamson

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” — Lewis B. Smedes

“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

“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.” — Cherie Carter-Scott

“By far the strongest poison to the human spirit is the inability to forgive oneself or another person. Forgiveness is no longer an option but a necessity for healing.” — Caroline Myss

“The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself.” — Confucius

“Forgiveness is an inner correction that lightens our heart and frees us to live in the present. It is for our peace of mind first. Being at peace, we now have peace to extend to others, and this is the most permanent and valuable gift we can possibly give.” — Gerald Jampolsky

“Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive.” — William P. Young

“One forgives to the degree that one loves.” — Francois de la Rochefoucauld

“Genuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head on.” — Alice Miller

“If you can’t forgive and forget, pick one.” — Robert Breault

“Forgiving is not forgetting. Forgiving is remembering without pain.” — Celia Cruz

“People can be more forgiving than you can imagine. But you have to forgive yourself. Let go of what’s bitter and move on.” — Bill Cosby

“Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business.” — Lance Morrow

“Forgiveness is for yourself because it frees you. It lets you out of that prison you put yourself in.” — Louise Hay

“Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” — Indira Gandhi

“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.” — Corrie ten Boom

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” — Mark Twain

“There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.” — Josh Billings

“Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.” — Hannah Arendt

“Forgiveness is like faith. You have to keep reviving it.” — Mason Cooley

“The first step in forgiveness is the willingness to forgive.” — Marianne Williamson

“The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good. No good thing can be withheld from the forgiving state of mind.” — Catherine Ponder

“Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives.” — Lawana Blackwell

“Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.” — William Arthur Ward

“A winner rebukes and forgives. A loser is too timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive.” — Sydney J. Harris

“A fault confessed is half redressed.” — English Proverb

“A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.” — Unknown

“Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.” — Henry Ellis

“Forgive and forget.” — Unknown

“Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“If God were not willing to forgive sin, heaven would be empty.” — German Proverb

“Let bygones be bygones.” — Christina Georgina Rossetti

“Record only the sunny hours.” — Unknown

“Repay evil with kindness.” — Unknown

“Temper justice with mercy.” — John Milton

Forgive Yourself Quotes

“Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before you learned it.” — Maya Angelou

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.” — Les Brown

“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

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” — Jack Kornfield

“You have to forgive yourself for the things you didn’t do, the things you couldn’t do, and the things you wish you hadn’t done.” — Iyanla Vanzant

“The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself.” — Confucius

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” — Carl Jung