Before Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962, he was an angry, relatively young man. He founded the ANC’s military wing. When he was released, he surprised everyone because he was talking about reconciliation and forgiveness and not about revenge.

The confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord’s mercy motivates us to do better.

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.

I know from personal experience how damaging it can be to live with bitterness and unforgiveness. I like to say it’s like taking poison and hoping your enemy will die. And it really is that harmful to us to live this way.

Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.

A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.

Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.

If there is something to pardon in everything, there is also something to condemn.

To be angry is to revenge the faults of others on ourselves.

There should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat.

If you’re a politician, you might want to learn the Buddhist way of negotiation. Restoring communication and bringing back reconciliation is clear and concrete in Buddhism.

If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.

To err is human; to forgive, divine.

In the 1960s, there was a point, 1968, ’69, when there was a very strong antiwar movement against the war in Vietnam. But it’s worth remembering that the war in Vietnam started – an outright war started in 1962.

Custom reconciles us to everything.

The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.

To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.

It’s a blessing that South Africa has a man like Nelson Mandela.

There are some cases in which the sense of injury breeds not the will to inflict injuries and climb over them as a ladder, but a hatred of all injury.

I believe many people feel like God is mad at them.

What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass; it is almost exactly 13 years since the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland and Northern Ireland voted in favour of the agreement signed on Good Friday 1998, paving the way for Northern Ireland to become the exciting and inspirational place that it is today.

Despite the slowness, the infidelity, the errors and sins it committed and might still commit against its members, the Church, trust me, has no other meaning and goal but to live and witness Jesus.

I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.

If one by one we counted people out For the least sin, it wouldn’t take us long To get so we had no one left to live with. For to be social is to be forgiving.

If you can’t beat them, arrange to have them beaten.

Turkey must find its place if, of course, it can heal its internal sores, and none is more malignant than the perennial Kurdish issue.

It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.

We hand folks over to God’s mercy, and show none ourselves.

I am a most noteworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvellous Presence.

I’ve seen my friends take someone back after they’ve cheated because they fit perfectly.

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

Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.

So many people live with anger and unforgiveness, and many of them are Christians.

Better to be occasionally cheated than perpetually suspicious.

My freshman and sophomore years in high school, I spent a lot of time trying to get back on the right track. I was arrested multiple times by the time I was 16, so I had a little harder time trying to adjust like a lot of us do in high school.

I mean we all need a second chance sometimes.

There is no injustice in the grace of God. God is as just when He forgives a believer as when He casts a sinner into hell.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

Let my enemies devour each other.

You know how big love is? Love is big. love can hold anger; love can even hold hatred.

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

You’ll never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him.

A lot of times, people feel that if they forgive the person who hurt them, then they will continue to take advantage of them or not take responsibility for what they did wrong.

If in prayer I come before a throne of grace, the faults of my prayer will be overlooked.

What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly – that is the first law of nature.

One who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice; and it is not right to return an injury, or to do evil to any man, however much we have suffered from him.

Debt is part of the human condition. Civilization is based on exchanges – on gifts, trades, loans – and the revenges and insults that come when they are not paid back.

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

Bad men are full of repentance.

Do good to your friends to keep them, to your enemies to win them.

A president can ask for reconciliation in the racial conflict that divides Americans. But reconciliation comes only from the hearts of people.

Saints need sinners.

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

We are asking the nations of Europe between whom rivers of blood have flowed to forget the feuds of a thousand years.

In 1962 I was named Minor League Player of the Year. It was my second season in the bigs.

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

Virtuous people often revenge themselves for the constraints to which they submit by the boredom which they inspire.

I’ve looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me.

Let not a libation of tears be the only offering at the shrine of Jesus; let us also rejoice with joy unspeakable. If we have need to lament our sin, how much more to rejoice at our pardon!