Millions of Muslims around the world are celebrating their Eid (pronounced as eed) Festival today. It’s a day of family, friends, feast, festivity and forgiveness. I hope the following quotes inspire you to forgive others, and yourself, for all the wrongs of the past.

I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive.  Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note – torn in two, and burned up, so that it can never be shown against one. (Henry Ward Beecher)

The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. (Mahatma Gandhi)

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. (Lewis B. Smedes)

Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. (Isaac Friedmann)

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury. (E.H. Chapin)

Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much. (Oscar Wilde)

Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me. (Anonymous)

Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness. (H. Jackson Brown)

There is no love without forgiveness; and there’s no forgiveness without love. (Byrant McGill)

Forgiveness is the economy of the heart – forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits. (Hannah More)

Which one did you like best? Do you have a favorite quote on forgiveness? Please share through comments.

[Photo of a popular shrine in Iran, taken in July 2009]

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