On Forgiveness

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

“Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”

“For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.”

“Forgiveness is virtue; forgiveness is sacrifice, forgiveness is the Vedas, forgiveness is the Shruti. He that knoweth this is capable of forgiving everything.”

“He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.”

“Good-nature and good sense must ever join; To err is human, to forgive, divine.”

“He that forgives the aggressor gains the victory in the dispute.”

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

“O, Tom! we's been awful wicked to ye! I forgive ye, with all my heart! said Tom, faintly.”

Forgiveness can be taught. Pooling fifty-three trials, researchers found that people guided through a structured forgiveness process forgave significantly more than those who received no help, and more than those given other therapies.

Across twenty studies in ten countries, children and teenagers taught how to forgive became measurably more forgiving and less angry, and the drop in anger kept deepening months after the lessons ended.