Talk:Forgiveness

Latest comment: 1 year ago by Mcljlm in topic Always forgive your enemies ...

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Forgiveness page.


moves edit

I moved the following quote here, because it seems to have been made by someone unnotable:

  • "Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet which still clings fast to the heel that crushed it." - George Roemisch (I think this was Mark Twain)
  • "To give and receive love; to give and receive forgiveness. Love and Forgiveness. They can release you from your pain far beyond what you could ever imagine." - Hanoochi

If anyone can find evidence of notability, please put it here and add the quote back. Thanks ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 08:46, 9 October 2005 (UTC)Reply

However, please do not re-add the quotes as "anonymous". Thanks ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 18:40, 14 November 2005 (UTC)Reply


"It is easier to get forgiveness than permission." - This is usually attributed to Grace Hopper, rather than Colin Powell. Is there any evidence for either attribution? All I could find were other quotation lists, most of which attribute it to Hopper. --195.8.190.39 13:51, 28 March 2006 (UTC)Reply

I'm quite sure that "It is easier to get forgiveness than permission." is older than the Grace Hopper quote. At least in danish ("Tit er det bedre at bede om tilgivelse end om tilladelse."). Some sources attribute it to Immanuel Kant, but it might be a loose rephrasing of some more complicated statement. -- 83.221.146.177 10:24, 13 November 2009 (UTC)Reply

Forgiveness edit

Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. Michael L McCune

Always forgive your enemies. This relieves them and causes them to relieve themselves all over you. - Unknown

"Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet which still clings fast to the heel that crushed it." - George Roemisch (I think this was Mark Twain) NOT Twain...it is Roemisch. Entire poem: Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the wind blown bud which blooms in placid beauty at Verdun. Forgiveness is the tiny slate gray sparrow which has built it's nest of twigs and string among the shards of glass upon the wall of shame. Forgiveness is the child who laughs in merry ecstasy beneath the toothed fence that closes in DaNang. Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet which still clings fast to the heel that crushed it. Forgiveness is the broken dream which hides itself within the corner of the mind called forgetfulness, so that it will not bring pain to the dreamer. Forgiveness is the reed which stands up straight and green, when nature's mighty rampage halts, full spent. Forgiveness is a God, who will not leave us after all we've done.


George Roemisch

Unsourced or mixed (needs cleanup) edit

  • "Assuming you're not pregnant, in jail, and there's no body in your basement, I don't think I'll mind." - Alex Keyes
  • "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 again made clean." - Dag Hammarskjold
  • "Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it" - George Roemisch
  • "Forgiveness is the last resort, after victory seems impossible, or trivial" - Anonymous
  • "He who forgives ends the quarrel." - Anonymous
  • "If one knows thee not or a blind man scolds thee, do not become angry." - Anonymous (claimed to be an African proverb by The Journal of Negro History, Volume I. Jan. 1916[1])
  • "To understand is not only to pardon, but in the end to love." - Walter Lippmann
  • Forgiveness is the best form of revenge. - Italian Proverb.
  • "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." - Mahatma Gandhi

Excellent source on violets and forgiveness quote edit

This site called "Quote Investigator" explains several sources for the violet quote. Note, none of them are Mark Twain. The first citation is from Sir William Jones in his "The Philosophy of the Asiatics" in 1794:

…the beautiful Aryá couplet, which was written at least three centuries before our era, and which pronounces the duty of a good man, even in the moment of his destruction to consist not only in forgiving, but even in a desire of benefiting, his destroyer, as the Sandal-tree, in the instant of its overthrow, sheds perfume on the axe, which fells it…

https://www.facebook.com/QuoteInvestigator

Unsourced edit

These require citations to adequate sources before being placed into the main article.
  • 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.
  • Among the Protestant Reformers, John Wesley stated that forgiveness is an "...act of God the Father, hereby, for the sake of the propitiation made by the blood of his Son, he 'showeth forth his righteousness (or mercy)..."
  • The Ashtavakra Gita, Chapter1, verse 2 states that ”To be free shun the experiences of the senses like poison. Turn your attention to forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, simplicity, truth.” Another thing to be understood is that karma basically means the cycle of cause and effect. If you forgive someone who harms you, you are nullifying the effect and there by the cause. By forgiving and not reacting, not only are you freeing yourself from bad karma, but through forgiving your enemy you are freeing him of his karma. In chapter 5, verse 26 of the Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna states that the peace of God is there for those who are free from desires and wrath(hatred).
  • Hindus believe in the philosophy of karma. God in the Veda (Yayur-Veda 7:48) states that each and every act good or bad has a consequence. Man is free to do good or bad, sins or pious deeds but result is always rewarded by God. One has to face the result as sorrow or happiness, respectively for a bad deed or good deed. The concept of performing atonement from one's wrongdoing (Prayaschittha — Sanskrit: Penance), and asking for forgiveness is very much a part of the practice of Hinduism.

Always forgive your enemies ... edit

I deleted "Always forgive your enemies — nothing annoys them so much. Oscar Wilde, quoted in The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations (1958) by Fritz Heider, p. 269" based on "The linkage to Wilde appears to be spurious. The true originator of the quotation remains unknown." https://quoteinvestigator.com/2021/06/11/annoy/. If reinserted it would need to be with something along the lines misattributed to Wilde, author unknown (talk) 15:46, 7 October 2022 (UTC)Reply

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