Martin Jacques Quotes

In order to properly repent, he who has sinned against the public must make public reparation.

The redress of the grievances of the vanquished should precede the disarmament of the victors.

I have to say that it's very few countries that are willing to look back at its past and apologize for its act, or make amends for its act, as the United States had one.

Most of the victims of Nazi aggression were before the war less well off than Germany. They should not be expected by Germany to bear, unaided, the major costs of Nazi aggression.

The country in which reparations actually happen is a very different one than the one we live in.

Recognizing past mistakes is a far cry from making reparations for them.

Reparations - not just aid - should be provided by those responsible for devastating Iraqi civilian society by cruel sanctions and military actions, and - together with other criminal states - for supporting Saddam Hussein through his worst atrocities and beyond. That is the minimum that honesty requires.

Reversing your treatment of the man you have wronged is better than asking his forgiveness.

I wrote an apology for the harm I'd caused, but I also knew that an apology could never undo any of it.

Perhaps one could say I've worked in South Africa too long, but I believe in forgiveness, especially when a person admits a mistake, asks for forgiveness, and works to right a wrong.

I've done some dastardly things but what can I do except make amends and apologize?

Hopefully America will forgive me.

If America puts the enmity aside, if it initiates good will, and if it compensates for the past, the future situation between the United States and Iran will change.

If anyone's reading this waiting for some type of full-on, flat apology for anything, they should just stop reading right now.

I am that prodigal son who wasted all the portion entrusted to me by my father. But I have not yet fallen at my father's knees. I have not yet begun to put away from me the enticements of my former riotous living.

That's what troubles me: I should like to suffer more for the expiation of my sins.

Authentic apology is a tricky thing to pull off in politics, which is why it so seldom occurs. Plausible deniability must be preserved. True contrition has to be displayed. Traitors to the cause must be immediately be jettisoned. Most of all, the goal is to stop the bleeding.

It's never easy to say you're sorry.

If you really screw up, send roses.

I apologize profusely to those I have offended deeply a million times over.

Truly saying sorry is never easy to do, and when you are, you just hope it's not too late.

The act of apology is something that most societies take very seriously indeed. It is an admission of wrong done to the victims and an acceptance of blame.

I can't turn the clock back but I can seek the forgiveness of those I've wronged.

I've done things that weren't good, you know, but I made up for my mistakes.

I am the type of person who believes an apology should be sincere and from the heart.