Quotes for forgiveness: Words that help you let go
You know that moment when you read something and it stops you mid-scroll? When words land in exactly the right place at exactly the right time, and suddenly you feel a little less alone in whatever you’re carrying?
That’s what the right quotes for forgiveness can do.
Not the fluffy “everything happens for a reason” stuff. Not the spiritual bypass quotes that tell you to just “let it go” without acknowledging how hard that actually is. The real ones. The quotes that see you exactly where you are – stuck between knowing you should forgive and actually being able to do it.
This isn’t just a collection of pretty words to screenshot for your Instagram story. These are quotes about forgiveness that actually mean something. Quotes that meet you in the mess, validate the struggle, and offer something real to hold onto when you’re trying to release what’s been weighing you down.
Related reads
- How to forgive yourself: A gentle guide to self forgiveness
- Letting go affirmations: The art of release and emotional freedom
- How to let go of past mistakes and move forward
- Best affirmations for forgiveness: The weight you’re carrying isn’t yours to keep
- The art of letting go: 8 techniques for releasing what no longer serves you
Why we turn to quotes when we’re struggling to forgive
There’s something about seeing your experience reflected back to you in someone else’s words that makes the impossible feel a little more possible.
When you’re drowning in guilt, shame, or resentment, your own thoughts become an echo chamber. The same spirals. The same self-attacks. The same replaying of what happened. You need a different voice – one that’s been where you are and found a way through.
That’s what good forgiving yourself quotes do. They interrupt the loop. They offer perspective you can’t access when you’re stuck inside your own pain. They remind you that other people have carried this weight too, and somehow, they put it down.
Quotes aren’t magic. They won’t instantly heal you or make the pain disappear. But they can be anchors. Something to come back to when you’re spiraling. A reminder that forgiveness – whether of yourself or someone else – is possible, even when it doesn’t feel like it.
The different kinds of forgiveness (and why that matters for finding the right quote)
Not all forgiveness is the same. And not all quotes of forgiveness will speak to what you’re actually going through.
Forgiving yourself looks different than forgiving someone else. Self-forgiveness requires you to sit with the part of you that feels unworthy of compassion and choose it anyway. The quotes that help here are the ones that remind you you’re human, that mistakes don’t define you, that growth is always possible.
Forgiving someone who hurt you requires you to release the story of what they should have done differently while still honoring that the hurt was real. The quotes that land here acknowledge the pain without keeping you trapped in it.
Forgiving a situation that didn’t go the way you needed it to – a loss, a betrayal, a path that closed – requires acceptance of what is rather than what should have been. The quotes that help are the ones that speak to surrender without giving up.
Forgiving when the other person isn’t sorry is its own kind of hell. You’re releasing something without resolution, without apology, without the closure you deserve. The quotes that help here are about choosing your own peace over waiting for someone else to give you permission to move on.
As you read through these quotes about forgiveness, pay attention to which ones make you feel something. Those are your anchors.
Quotes for forgiving yourself (when you’re your own harshest critic)
These are for the 2 AM moments when you’re replaying every mistake. For when you’re stuck in the belief that you don’t deserve to move forward. For when the guilt feels like proof that you’re a good person, and letting it go feels like letting yourself off the hook.
“Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn’t know before you learned it.” Unknown
“You’ve been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” Louise Hay
“Be gentle with yourself. You’re doing the best you can.” Unknown
“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.” Christopher Germer
“You are not your mistakes. You are not your struggles. You are here now with the power to shape your day and your future.” Steve Maraboli
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” Lewis B. Smedes
“Forgiving yourself is as important as forgiving others. Guilt is toxic; re-living mistakes over and over. Save yourself – forgive yourself.” Unknown
“The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself.” Steve Maraboli
“We are all broken. That’s how the light gets in.” Ernest Hemingway
“Mistakes are proof that you are trying. And trying is proof that you haven’t given up.” Unknown
“You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.” Unknown
“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” Mark Twain
“Your past mistakes are meant to guide you, not define you.” Unknown
Quotes for forgiveness (when you need to forgive others)
These are for when you know intellectually that forgiveness would set you free, but emotionally you’re not ready. For when the anger feels justified, the resentment feels protective, and letting go feels like saying what they did was okay.
“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.” Oprah Winfrey
“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” Paul Boese
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” Mahatma Gandhi
“Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person’s throat.” William Paul Young
“Forgiveness is the final form of love.” Reinhold Niebuhr
“To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.” Robert Muller
“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.” Cherie Carter-Scott
“Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.” Suzanne Somers
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Buddha
“The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.” Marianne Williamson
“Forgiveness isn’t approving what happened. It’s choosing to rise above it.” Robin Sharma
“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
Quotes about the process of forgiving (when you’re somewhere in the middle)
These are for when you’ve decided you want to forgive, but you’re not there yet. For when some days feel lighter and other days the hurt comes rushing back. For when you’re tired of carrying this but don’t know how to put it down.
“Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” Steve Maraboli
“Forgiveness is a process, not an event.” Unknown
“To forgive is to give up all hope for a better past.” Lily Tomlin
“Forgiveness takes time. It is the last step of the grieving process.” Elin Nordegren
“Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.” Anonymous
“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
“There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” Bryant H. McGill
“Forgiveness doesn’t excuse their behavior. It prevents their behavior from destroying your heart.” Unknown
“One of the hardest lessons in life is letting go – whether it’s guilt, anger, love or loss.” Unknown
“Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself.” Unknown
Quotes about what forgiveness actually is (and isn’t)
These cut through the confusion about what forgiveness means. They clarify that forgiveness isn’t weakness, isn’t forgetting, isn’t saying it’s okay. They help you understand what you’re actually choosing when you choose to forgive.
“Forgiveness is not about condoning what has been done. It is about freeing yourself from the burden of bitterness.” Unknown
“To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that the one that must be loved is not a friend.” Mahatma Gandhi
“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
“Genuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head-on.” Alice Miller
“Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.” Mahatma Gandhi
“Forgiveness means letting go of the past.” Gerald Jampolsky
“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” Thomas Szasz
“Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free and realizing you were the prisoner.” Max Lucado
“True forgiveness is when you can say, ‘Thank you for that experience.’” Oprah Winfrey
“Forgiveness is not something we do for other people. We do it for ourselves to get well and move on.” Desmond Tutu
Quotes for when forgiveness feels impossible
These are for the dark moments. When you’ve tried and failed. When you want to forgive but can’t access it. When the wound is still too fresh, the betrayal still too raw, the pain still too present.
“Sometimes you have to accept the apology you never got.” Unknown
“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
“How do you know if you have forgiven? You tend to feel sorrow over the circumstance instead of rage, you tend to feel sorry for the person rather than angry with him. You tend to have nothing left to say about it all.” Clarissa Pinkola Estés
“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 Jr.
“To err is human; to forgive, divine.” Alexander Pope
“Forgiveness is hard. Acceptance is hard. Either way, pain is inevitable.” Unknown
“The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest.” Unknown
“Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a better past.” Anne Lamott
“In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.” Buddha
“It is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.” Maya Angelou
Quotes about forgiveness and the freedom that comes after
These are for when you’ve done the work. When you’ve chosen release over resentment, compassion over criticism, peace over pain. When you finally understand what people mean when they say forgiveness sets you free.
“Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.” Hannah Arendt
“Forgiveness is not something we do for others; it is something we do for ourselves. It is saying, ‘You are not important enough to have a stranglehold on me.’ It is saying, ‘You don’t get to trap me in the past. I am worthy of a future.’” Jodi Picoult
“When you release the wrongdoer from the wrong, you cut a malignant tumor out of your inner life. You set a prisoner free, but you discover that the real prisoner was yourself.” Lewis B. Smedes
“Forgiveness brings peace. When you forgive, you free yourself from the painful past.” Unknown
“There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.” Josh Billings
“Forgiveness is a reflection of loving yourself enough to move on.” Steve Maraboli
“The moment you forgive, you reclaim your power from the person or situation that hurt you.” Unknown
“Peace is letting it be. Letting life flow, letting emotions flow through you.” Kamal Ravikant
“Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.” Louis B. Smedes
“Your wound is probably not your fault, but your healing is your responsibility.” Denice Frohman
Quotes about forgiveness and boundaries (because you can do both)
These clear up one of the biggest misconceptions: that forgiveness means going back, letting someone hurt you again, or pretending it didn’t happen. These quotes about forgiveness show you can release the past and still protect your future.
“Forgiveness doesn’t mean you have to keep that person in your life.” Unknown
“You can forgive someone and still not want them in your life.” Trent Shelton
“Forgiveness is not an excuse to repeat toxic behavior.” Unknown
“Setting boundaries is a way of caring for myself. It doesn’t make me mean, selfish, or uncaring because I don’t do things your way. I care about me too.” Christine Morgan
“Forgive them even if they are not sorry. Heal yourself even if they refuse to see your pain.” Unknown
“Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. It takes a strong person to say sorry and an even stronger person to forgive.” Unknown
“Forgiveness is not about accepting their behavior. It’s about releasing yourself from being a victim.” Unknown
“You can accept what happened and still not accept the person back into your life. Both can be true.” Unknown
“I can forgive you without trusting you again.” Unknown
“Forgiving is not the same as reconciling. You can forgive someone without returning to the relationship.” Unknown
How to actually use these quotes (not just read them)
Reading forgiveness quotes feels good in the moment, but if you want them to actually help you forgive, you need to work with them, not just consume them.
Pick one that hits different. Don’t try to internalize all of them. Find the one that makes your chest tighten or your eyes well up or your brain go “wait, really?” That’s the one that’s speaking to something true in you.
Write it somewhere you’ll see it. Your bathroom mirror. Your phone lock screen. A sticky note on your laptop. Anywhere you’ll encounter it when the guilt or anger or resentment shows up.
Use it as a redirect. When your brain starts the familiar spiral – replaying what happened, attacking yourself, imagining revenge scenarios – interrupt it with the quote. Say it out loud if you need to. Let it be the voice that argues back against your worst thoughts.
Journal with it. Write the quote at the top of a page and then write: “What would it mean if this was true? What would change if I believed this? What’s stopping me from believing this right now?”
Share it if it helps. Not as a performance of healing, but as a genuine “this helped me today.” Sometimes saying something out loud makes it more real.
The point isn’t to plaster quotes everywhere and hope they magically fix you. The point is to use them as tools – reminders that forgiveness is possible, perspective when you can’t find your own, and evidence that other people have walked this path and survived.
The quote that’s missing (the one you write yourself)
Here’s the thing about quotes for forgiveness: someone else’s words can only take you so far. Eventually, you need your own.
What would you say to yourself right now if you could step outside your pain and speak from a place of compassion? What would the healed version of you – the one who’s already walked through this and come out the other side – say to the version of you who’s struggling right now?
Write that down.
It might be messy. It might be imperfect. It might sound nothing like the polished quotes in this article. But it’s yours. And sometimes the words you need most are the ones you have to speak to yourself.
“I forgive you for [specific thing]. You were doing the best you could with what you had. You’re not that person anymore. You’re allowed to grow past this.”
Fill in the blank. Say it out loud. Say it again tomorrow. Say it until it starts to feel true.
Forgiveness – whether of yourself, someone else, or a situation that broke your heart – isn’t a feeling you wait for. It’s a decision you make, over and over, until your nervous system catches up.
These forgiving yourself quotes aren’t magic words that will instantly heal you. But they can be anchors. Reminders. Lifelines when you’re drowning in guilt, shame, or resentment.
You don’t have to do this perfectly. You don’t have to wake up tomorrow fully healed. You just have to keep choosing release over resentment, compassion over criticism, peace over pain.
One day at a time. One quote at a time. One moment of choosing yourself at a time.
That’s how forgiveness happens. Not all at once, but slowly. And then one day, you realize the weight you’ve been carrying is lighter. Not gone, maybe. But lighter.
And that’s enough.
If you keep telling yourself you should forgive but you can’t get your heart to cooperate, you need more than quotes – you need daily practice. My Letting go workbook gives you 30 days of journaling prompts, and exercises that help you move from intellectually understanding forgiveness to actually feeling it in your body. This is what it looks like to release what’s been holding you hostage, one day at a time.
