Forgiveness Quotes
"It is reported that President Brigham Young once said that he who takes offense when no offense was intended is a fool, and he who takes offense when offense was intended is usually a fool. It was then explained that there are two courses of action to follow when one is bitten by a rattlesnake. One may, in anger, fear, or vengefulness, pursue the creature and kill it. Or he may make full haste to get the venom out of his system. If we pursue the latter course we will likely survive, but if we attempt to follow the former, we may not be around long enough to finish it."
Marion D. Hanks, General Conference, October 1973
"Those of us who cannot forgive and forget break the bridges over which we must pass."
Elder Marvin J. Ashton, April 1979 General Conference
"Forgiveness is the miraculous ingredient that assures harmony and love in the home or the ward. Without it there is contention. Without understanding and forgiveness there is dissension, followed by lack of harmony, and this breeds disloyalty in homes, in branches and in wards."
Spencer W. Kimball - "Miracle of Forgiveness", p. 275
"We must remember to teach our children that even if others fail to be kind and considerate, we ought to be slow to condemn and very quick to forgive. We need not be tolerant of sin, but we must become tolerant and forgiving of the sinner."
Theodore M. Burton, "To Forgive Is Divine", General Conference, April 1983
"Forgiveness takes the burden of hate, guilt, and bitterness off your back and, with a lighter load, you can climb higher and faster, and be much happier in the process."
Zig Ziglar
"Forgiveness heals terrible, tragic wounds, for it allows the love of God to purge your heart and mind of the poison of hate. It cleanses your consciousness of the desire for revenge. It makes place for the purifying, healing, restoring love of the Lord."
Richard G. Scott, Ensign, May 1992, p. 33
"Forgiveness of others for wrongs - imaginary or real - often does more for the forgiver than for the forgiven."
H. Burke Peterson (Ensign, November 1983, page 60)
"Hatred always fails and bitterness always destroys. Are there virtues more in need of application in our day, a day marked by litigious proceedings and heated exchanges, than those of forgiving, forgetting, and extending mercy to those who may have wronged us or let us down?"
Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something", p. 69
The best way to get even is to forget...
"The scriptures say, 'Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.' (D&C 58:42.) It’s true. We can learn to repent and to forgive ourselves. Unfortunately, some of us would rather carry a cross farther than we need to rather than confess and start anew."
Marvin J. Ashton "Carry Your Cross," - Ensign, Feb. 1988, p. 70
To forgive is to set the prisoner free, and then discover the prisoner was you.
"The essence of the miracle of forgiveness is that it brings peace to the previously anxious, restless, frustrated, perhaps tormented soul."
Spencer W. Kimball (LDS Speaker's Sourcebook, Aspen Books 1991, page 379)
"How often do we forget who has the right to judge? Forgiveness of sin depends on Him [The Lord], not on us."
Elder Lynn A. Mickelsen 173rd Semiannual General Conference, October 2003