Lewis B. Smedes Quotes

Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.

When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it.

It takes strength to be kind; it's not a weakness.

I had my bad times. But the good news is that every time this has happened I've taken full responsibility for it. I don't try to duck it, I don't try to dodge it, I don't try to bullshit about it. Truth crushed to the ground will rise again. And that's what my life has been about.

Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.

I don’t think it's weak to admit you made a mistake. That takes strength, if you ask me.

If you own up to your mistakes, you don't suffer as much. But that's a tough lesson to learn.

A second chance doesn't mean anything if you haven't learned from your first mistake.

When you're right, nobody remembers. When you're wrong, nobody forgets.

First and foremost, be faithful to your superiors, keep all promises, refuse the friendship of all who are not like you; and if you have made a mistake, do not be afraid of admitting the fact and amending your ways.

Other-cheekism is not only a way of purifying the soul, it is also part of every weak person's survival kit.

Protect your reputation. Don't be afraid of making mistakes.

He who, with strong passions, remains chaste--he who, keenly sensitive, with manly power of indignation in him, can yet restrain himself and forgive--these are strong men, spiritual heroes.

The world is bigger than all the parts. That's the important thing, and one thing can throw everything off kilter. And you must never let yourself off. You'll let yourself off by mistake. So you shouldn't do it consciously. You have to be above it all and just be very disciplined with it. Just be very disciplined with it.

I don't know about forgiving, but it's an "I'm still here." And it's not just because I have nowhere else to go. It's because I believe in the possibility. I believe in the possibility of another way of being. Let's make other kinds of mistakes; let's be flawed differently.

I made a mistake and I'll work in the season to be better. It's part of life to be a man and don't try to hide something if it's broken.

Bitter criticism caused the sensitive Thomas Hardy, one of the finest novelists ever to enrich English literature, to give up forever the writing of fiction. Criticism drove Thomas Chatterton, the English poet, to suicide. . . . Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.

It requires less character to discover the faults of others, than to tolerate them.

Forgiveness is attention without judgment. It heals the one who forgives and the one who is forgiven.

Patience puts up with those you'd like to put down

True goodness is not without that germ of greatness that can bear with patience the mistakes of the ignorant.

If I fall over and make mistakes, I'll pick myself back up and hope for the best and try to conduct myself with as much authenticity and moral code.

What we are assigned to bear is in a sense a measure of our stature.