Be
a Hero for a Better World ... Every Act of Kindness Makes
a Difference!
FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness
is one of the most important first steps to ending
conflicts in our families, our communities and between
nations.
-- Robert
Alan Silverstein
Learning
to let things go and forgive isn't always easy, but
when we truly forgive, it helps foster better health,
better relationships, a deeper sense of purpose and
self worth and a feeling of connection to others.
-- Robert
Alan Silverstein
We
specifically raised agrarian issues to encourage both
conflicting parties to find something in common. Our
strategy worked. The people eventually agreed to put
aside their religious differences and sit together
to reach agreements that could sustain reconciliation.
-- Dewi
Rana Amir
*
"We
cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude
toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear
out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for
hate --- thereby, making the present comfortable and
the future promising."
-- Maya
Angelou
*
Forgiveness
is the key to action and freedom.
-- Hannah
Arendt
Our
anger and annoyance are more detrimental to us than the
things themselves which anger or annoy us.
--Marcus Aurelius
Be
angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down
on your anger.
-- Henry
Ward Beecher
*
“I
can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another
way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought
to be like a cancelled note - torn in two, and burned
up, so that it never can be shown against one.”
-- Henry
Ward Beecher
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
“One
of the most basic principles for making and keeping
peace within and between nations. . . is that in political,
military, moral, and spiritual confrontations, there
should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation
of differences before resorting to combat”
~ Jimmy
Carter
Anger
makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow
beyond what you were.
-- Cherie Carter-Scott
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
When
anger rises, think of the consequences.
-- Confucius
*
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
*
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
*
When
you are happy you can forgive a great deal.
-- Princess
Diana
*
“teach
myself to see each of us
through the lens of forgiveness -- Ani
DiFranco
“teach myself to see each of us
through the lens of forgiveness
like we're stuck with each other (god forbid!)
teach myself to smile and stop and talk
to a whole other color kid
teach myself to be new in an instant
like the truth is accessible at any time
teach myself it's never really one or the other
there's a paradox in every paradigm. -- Ani
DiFranco
*
The
only way children can learn the habit of forgiveness
is by seeing us, their parents, forgive others and
forgive ourselves.
-- Naomi
Drew
Peace
is not possible without forgiveness.
-- Naomi
Drew
The
freedom to be at peace in our own skins - that’s what
forgiveness allows. We relinquish this freedom when
we hold onto anger and resentment. Enormous amounts
of energy are wasted when we hold back our love, hold
onto hate, and harbor acrimonious feelings. The only
remedy is letting go, and being willing to forgive.
-- Naomi
Drew
*
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
Perpetrators
who receive the gift of forgiveness are given a chance
to change
-- Pumla
Gobodo-Madikizela
an act
of forgiveness sets the victim apart from the perpetrator,
who failed to act humanly towards the victim at the time
he committed his crime.
-- Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
For
perpetrators, when they apologize and experience remorse,
it gives them a chance to reclaim their own humanity. Some
rise to the moral challenge. Others of course don't care,
and they continue acting with contempt.
-- Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
*
"Before
we can forgive one another, we have to understand
one another." -- Emma
Goldman
Thanks to their hope for forgiveness, humans can rise
above the dark clouds that threaten their horizon
and seize the opportunity to see light in their world.
-- M.
Fethullah Gülen
*
It
is impossible for people who have given their heart
to seeking forgiveness not to think of forgiving others.
Just as they desire to be forgiven, they also desire
to forgive.
-- M.
Fethullah Gülen
"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
*
''To
forgive oneself? No, that doesn't work: we have to
be forgiven. But we can only believe this is possible
if we ourselves can forgive.” -- Dag
Hammarskjöld
Forgiveness
is the answer to the child's dream of a miracle by
which what is broken is made whole again, what is
soiled is made clean again. -- Dag
Hammarskjöld
*
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
The
practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the
most vital and artistic of human actions.”
-- Thich
Nhat Hanh
To
reconcile conflicting parties, we must have the ability
to understand the suffering of both sides.
--
Thich
Nhat Hanh
*
“As
long as you hate, there will be people to hate.”
-- George
Harrison
“As long as you hate, there will be people to hate.
--
George Harrison
"Forgiveness
does not equal forgetting. It is about healing the memory
of the harm, not erasing it."
-- Ken Hart
*
"Watch
our for each other. Love and forgive everybody. It's
a good life, enjoy it!"
-- Jim
Henson
"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
*
If
you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you
forgive others?
--
Dolores
Huerta
You
know you have forgiven someone when he or she has harmless
passage through your mind.
-- Rev. Karyl Huntley
*
"You’re
only human.
Let’s break free of this gravity of judgment
And fly high on the wings of forgiveness."
-- India.Arie
*
“You
dont have to hold on to the pain, to hold on to the
memory.”
-- Janet
Jackson
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
*
We
all have someone or something to forgive . . . and
when we learn how, we become free to increase success
in every area of our life.
-- Azim
Khamisa
*
I
refuse to let what happened to me make me bitter.
-- Nicole
Kidman
*
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 not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.”
--
Martin
Luther King, Jr
“He
who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of
the power to love.” -- Martin
Luther King, Jr
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. There is some good in the worst of us and some
evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less
prone to hate our enemies. -- 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
*
Real
freedom is creative, proactive, and will take me into
new territories. I am not free if my freedom is predicated
on reacting to my past. --
Kenny
Loggins
Holding
on to anger, resentment and hurt only gives you tense muscles,
a headache and a sore jaw from clenching your teeth. Forgiveness
gives you back the laughter and the lightness in your life.
-- Joan Lunden
My
dream is to live a good life and be loving, be close
to God and be a good human being and bring peace to
people.
-- Ziggy
Marley
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
*
Force
may subdue, but love gains, and he that forgives first
wins the laurel.
-- William
Penn
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
*
I
want to rid my heart of envy, and cleanse my soul
of rage before I'm through.
-- Paul
Simon
*
If
we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.
-- Mother
Teresa
"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
*
"Let
us forgive each other - only then will we live in
peace”
-- Leo
Tolstoy
*
"...in
a very real sense, without forgiveness, there is no
future."
-- Desmond
Tutu
"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
*
Love
is an act of endless forgiveness.
-- Peter
Ustinov
Always
forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
-- Oscar Wilde
Sometimes
I see myself fine, sometimes I need a witness. And I like
the whole truth, but there are nights I only need forgiveness.
-- Dar Williams
*
The
practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution
to the healing of the world.
-- Marianne
Williamson
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
The
first step in forgiveness is the willingness to forgive.
-- Marianne
Williamson
Our
past is a story existing only in our minds. Look, analyze,
understand, and forgive. Then, as quickly as possible, chuck
it.
-- 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.
Remember,
a chip on the shoulder is a sure sign of wood higher up.
-- Brigham Young
