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.

When we quarrel, how we wish we had been blameless.

There is a fine balance between honoring the past and losing yourself in it. For example, you can acknowledge and learn from mistakes you made, and then move on and refocus on the now. It is called forgiving yourself.

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee, and I’ll forgive Thy great big joke on me.

We need to show mercy. I mean, because as much mercy as you show people, that’s the mercy you’re going to be receiving.

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.

I’m afraid the SS’s relationship with the Catholic Church is something the Church still has to deal with and does not deny.

I am not going to Heaven because I have preached to great crowds or read the Bible many times. I’m going to Heaven just like the thief on the cross who said in that last moment: ‚Lord, remember me.‘

Let my enemies devour each other.

Life is too short for long-term grudges.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.

It is a hard thing to let go of mistakes we’ve made and sins. God wants us to do that because He knows the guilt and the condemnation will keep us from becoming who He has created us to be.

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

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

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

Every year during their High Holy Days, the Jewish community reminds us all of our need for repentance and forgiveness.

Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.

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

Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts; old age is slow in both.

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

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

I did once seriously think of embracing the Christian faith. The gentle figure of Christ, so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate when abused or struck, but to turn the other cheek – I thought it was a beautiful example of the perfect man.

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.

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.

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.

Peace comes when you talk to the guy you most hate. And that’s where the courage of a leader comes, because when you sit down with your enemy, you as a leader must already have very considerable confidence from your own constituency.

Let go of offence. Let go of fear. Let go of revenge. Don’t live angry, let go now!

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

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.

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.

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

Always remember that others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.

As a Christian, you forgive, and you feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and you visit the sick and comfort the lonely. If I’m a true follower of my lord and saviour Jesus Christ, I got to do the things you’re supposed to be doing.

Revenge, lust, ambition, pride, and self-will are too often exalted as the gods of man’s idolatry; while holiness, peace, contentment, and humility are viewed as unworthy of a serious thought.

Forgiveness is not a one-time thing that happened the day you received Christ. It is an everyday thing, for the rest of your life.

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.

Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.

If there are people you haven’t forgiven, you’re not going to really awaken. You have to let go.

Better to be occasionally cheated than perpetually suspicious.

An injured friend is the bitterest of foes.

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

Our God is a forgiving God.

I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists.

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.

Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.

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

You may make some mistakes – but that doesn’t make you a sinner. You’ve got the very nature of God on the inside of you.

There are techniques of Buddhism, such as meditation, that anyone can adopt. And, of course, there are Christian monks and nuns who already use Buddhist methods in order to develop their devotion, compassion, and ability to forgive.

It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge.

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

The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.

One hearty laugh together will bring enemies into a closer communion of heart than hours spent on both sides in inward wrestling with the mental demon of uncharitable feeling.

Your successes and happiness are forgiven you only if you generously consent to share them.

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

Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.

If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.

Now I will say this to every sinner, though he should think himself to be the worst sinner who ever lived: cry to the Lord and seek Him while He may be found. A throne of grace is a place fitted for you. By simple faith, go to your Savior, for He is the throne of grace.

At best, the renewal of broken relations is a nervous matter.

Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince’s part to pardon.

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.

I’m convinced that no one can amount to a damn in the arts if he becomes sweetly reasonable, seeing all sides of a picture, forgiving all sins.