Desmond Tutu Quotes

What was the point of being able to forgive, when deep down, you both had to admit you'd never forget?

Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory.

When I talk about forgiveness, I mean letting go, not excusing the other person or reconciling with them or condoning the behavior. Just letting go of your own suffering.

I once read that forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a different past...but forgiving is not the same as obliterating memory.

Without memory, there is no healing. Without forgiveness, there is no future.

Forgiveness changes the way we remember. It converts the curse into a blessing. Forgiveness indeed heals memories . . .

You can always forgive, you just can't really forget.

Forgiveness has its comforts, but it can never give you back what you've lost.

I think that maybe forgiveness is like change - it comes in small steps. (256)

Forgiveness is a choice, but it is not an option.

When we want to move beyond the pain, when we want to feel better, when we are ready to move beyond where we are, emotionally and spiritually, we must forgive.

Forgiving is not forgetting. Forgiving is remembering without pain.

Through forgiveness, which essentially means recognizing the insubstantiality of the past and allowing the present moment to be as it is, the miracle of transformation happens not only within but also without.

In the end, forgiveness simply means never putting another person out of our heart.

Life cannot go on without much forgetting.

Forgiving is...recognizing the injury, owning the pain, & reaching out.

Forgiveness leads to a shift in perception. It transforms the hurt into healing.

Vengeance is having a videotape planted in your soul that cannot be turned off. It plays the painful scene over and over again inside your mind...And each time it plays you feel the clap of pain again...Forgiving turns off the videotape of pained memory Forgiving sets you free.

I know forgiveness is a man's duty, but, to my thinking, that can only mean as you're to give up all thoughts o' taking revenge: it can never mean as you're t' have your old feelings back again, for that's not possible.

Forgetting is something that time takes care of, but forgiveness is an act of volition, and only the sufferer is qualified to make the decision.

Understanding is often a prelude to forgiveness, but they are not the same, and we often forgive what we cannot understand (seeing nothing else to do) and understand what we cannot pardon.

Forgiveness is something that we are often asked to grant and very few of us ever have the roadmap of how to get from the pain that we have experienced to being able to forgive someone.

Forgive everybody for everything. Just forgive and start - most of us can't start with ourselves. We have to forgive the people we think did things to us. So that's fine. Start there - wherever. Start with the dog who peed on the rug. I don't care where you start, just do it.

Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude. That which I was not but could have been. That which I would have done but did not do. Can I find the fortitude to remember in truth,to understand, to submit, to forgive and to be free to move on in time?

Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten.