Definition of Forgive

Forgive

To give wholly; to make over without reservation; to resign.

To give up resentment or claim to requital on account of (an offense or wrong); to remit the penalty of; to pardon; -- said in reference to the act forgiven.

To cease to feel resentment against, on account of wrong committed; to give up claim to requital from or retribution upon (an offender); to absolve; to pardon; -- said of the person offending.

Related Definitions:

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Forgive Quotations

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.
Oscar Wilde

Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our gigantic intellects.
Oscar Wilde

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
John F. Kennedy

To err is human; to forgive, divine.
Alexander Pope

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
Plato

Forgive me my nonsense, as I also forgive the nonsense of those that think they talk sense.
Robert Frost

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.
Emo Philips

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee, and I'll forgive Thy great big joke on me.
Robert Frost

People can be more forgiving than you can imagine. But you have to forgive yourself. Let go of what's bitter and move on.
Bill Cosby

Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself.
George Bernard Shaw

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'
Billy Graham

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.
William Blake

If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.
H. L. Mencken

When you are happy you can forgive a great deal.
Princess Diana

Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.
Marianne Williamson

Our past is a story existing only in our minds. Look, analyze, understand, and forgive. Then, as quickly as possible, chuck it.
Marianne Williamson

The first step in forgiveness is the willingness to forgive.
Marianne Williamson

Forgive, son; men are men; they needs must err.
Euripides

To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn't be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife.
Angelina Jolie

The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.
E. O. Wilson

The idea of God is the sole wrong for which I cannot forgive mankind.
Marquis de Sade

To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

Forgive those who have hurt you.
Les Brown

Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.
Les Brown

Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive.
Marcus Tullius Cicero

God forgive you, but I never can.
Elizabeth I

To know all is not to forgive all. It is to despise everybody.
Quentin Crisp

More Forgive Quotations

Forgive Translations

forgive in Afrikaans is vergeef
forgive in Dutch is begenadigen, vergeven
forgive in Finnish is antaa anteeksi
forgive in French is pardonner, pardonnons, pardonnent, pardonnez
forgive in German is verzeihe, verzeihen, verzeihen
forgive in Italian is perdonare, perdono
forgive in Norwegian is tilgi, forlate
forgive in Portuguese is perdoe
forgive in Spanish is perdonar

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