Can't Forgive Yourself Quotes & Sayings

I also never would have imagined I'd quote back a church lesson, but when the rest of the crowd stood up to take communion, I found myself saying to Dimitri: "Don't you think that if God can supposedly forgive you, it's kind of egotistical for you not to forgive yourself?"
"How long have you been waiting to use that line on me?" he asked.
"Actually, it just came to me. Pretty good, huh? I bet you thought I wasn't paying attention."
"You weren't. You never do. You were watching me. — Richelle Mead

Forgiveness. It's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody. You are relieved of carrying that burden of resentment. You really are lighter. You feel lighter. You just drop that. — Maya Angelou

You can't save everyone and leave yourself lost, October. It isn't fair. Not to you and not to the people who care about you."
"I'm not lost Tybalt," I said. It was oddly hard to meet his eyes now that they registered as human. His irises were supposed to be malachite green, not muddy hazel, and his pupils were supposed to be oval, not round. "I know exactly where I am."
A smile crossed his face. "If I believed that, I would walk away and never darken your door again. I can forgive you your foolishness only because I know how lost you are. But one day, you'll have to come back home. When you do, I hope you'll find me waiting. — Seanan McGuire

The reason to forgive ourselves is not because we feel like it or because we want to see ourselves as blameless but because we limit what we can receive from God when we hold on to our past. He wants to do so much more than we could ever imagine. Forgiving yourself starts with believing in God's incredible love for you and accepting His amazing grace and mercy. If God Almighty can forgive us who are we to hold on to what He has not only forgiven but forgotten — Sue Augustine

You're not a secretary; you're a poet. What makes you think your life is going to be uncomplicated? What makes you think you can avoid all conflict? What makes you think you can avoid pain? Or passion? There's something to be said for passion. Can't you ever allow yourself and forgive yourself? — Erica Jong

The world does not have a voice of its own. It can't tell you what it wants, what it needs. But it's yearning for something to point it in the right direction. A savior, perhaps. Save us, Chris! You must forgive me. Where have my manners gone. I don't think I've had a chance to formerly introduce myself. You may call me Bray Wyatt. But I have a thousand faces and a million names. Seducer, accuser, destroyer. I am the color red in a world full of black and white, and if you value your ability to breathe, don't get too close. Save us, Chris. Save yourself. — Bray Wyatt

Real forgiveness is about fundamentally changing the way you see a situation. It is about clearing away the fog of fear and seeing the situation and the people involved accurately. It means acknowledging that there is really nothing to forgive because you are bulletproof and can't be diminished anyway. It means seeing this experience as a lesson, embracing what it is here to teach you, and choosing to be more loving toward yourself and others. — Kimberly Giles

Forgiveness is a choice you can make to free yourself from the shackles of your past, from pain, hurt and resentment. Forgiveness is your road to inner freedom. It does not mean that you need to forget, deny or condone what has transpired. You choose to forgive because forgiveness is the only way to transcend painful experiences and to attain inner peace and freedom. Transcending Abuse & Betrayal. — Sasha Samy

We hurt each other, is the point. Hurt, annoy, embarrass, but move on. People, it just doesn't work that way. Your own feelings get so complicated that you forget the ways another human being can be vulnerable. You spend a lot of energy protecting yourself. All those layers and motivations and feelings. You get hurt, you stay hurt sometimes. The hurt affects your ability to go forward. And words. All the words between us. Words can be permanent. Certain ones are impossible to forgive. — Deb Caletti

Imagine living your life without judging others. You can easily forgive others and let go of any judgments that you have. You don't have the need to be right, and you don't need to make anyone else wrong. You respect yourself and everyone else, and they respect you in return. — Miguel Ruiz

God's grace and forgiveness, while free to the recipient, are always costly for the giver ... From the earliest parts of the Bible, it was understood that God could not forgive without sacrifice. No one who is seriously wronged can "just forgive" the perpetrator ... But when you forgive, that means you absorb the loss and the debt. You bear it yourself. All forgiveness, then, is costly. — Timothy Keller

Think of each wound as you would of a child who has been hurt by a friend. As long as that child is ranting and raving, trying to get back at the friend, one wound leads to another. But when the child can experience the consoling embrace of a parent, she or he can live through the pain, return to the friend, forgive, and build up a new relationship. Be gentle with yourself, and let your heart be your loving parent as you live your wounds through. — Henri Nouwen

Don't be afraid to distance yourself from everyone + everything and recoup. sort out your thoughts. listen to your heart. breathe. read a book. write about how much your life has sucked - then write about how much you can't wait to see the positive changes. relearn yourself. accept all the hurt you've been through. forgive anyone and everyone who's hurt you. even if that means doing it within, and never physically or verbally reaching out. let go. & rejuvenate. take a step away from the chaos, and find peace. within. — Reyna Biddy

But grief makes a monster out of us sometimes ... and sometimes you say and do things to the people you love that you can't forgive yourself for. — Melina Marchetta

It matters not if we fail, but I need you to at least try, because then you can forgive yourself. Regrets will keep you chasing demons for the rest of your life. — O.E. Boroni

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

You have to let go of those feelings, Ra. Anger, fear, regret. It's the only way you can forgive yourself and love again. — Winna Efendi

Forgiving yourself can prove as difficult as licking a scab off your elbow. — Richelle E. Goodrich

There is evil in everyone. The first step toward loving someone else is to recognize that evil in yourself, so you can forgive them. — Veronica Roth

If someone chooses not to forgive others, they are actually hurting themselves. The only way to free yourself from that is to forgive others so you can be free from your past. — Abdulazeez Henry Musa

Turning down this invitation comes in lots of flavors. It looks like numbing yourself or distracting yourself or seeing something really beautiful as just normal. It can also look like refusing to forgive or not being grateful or getting wrapped around the axle with fear or envy. I think every day God sends us an invitation to live and sometimes we forget to show up or get head-fakes into thinking we haven't really been invited. But you see, we have been invited - every day, all over again. — Bob Goff

Two mental actions can change your life:

Forgive Yourself
Move On — Steven Aitchison

If I could go back to do some things over, I would in a heartbeat. But that ain't reality. It ain't life. You got to forgive yourself before you can move on. When you forgive yourself the regret gets lighter and lighter and you manage to keep going. — Joe Hart

Learn to forgive others so that you can release yourself from being held captive by the very negative thoughts around you. — Stephen Richards

The most compassionate and peaceful thing you can do for yourself and others is to let go of the past, let go of the anger, let go of trying to hurt people that wronged you. There are thousands of people dying from cancer that wish they had someone to care about them and be with them during their final days. There are children being sold into sex trafficking and are hoping someone would rescue them. There are homeless people that wish they had something warm to wear or eat. There is an entire species being wiped out because not enough people care about our oceans. Today, remember that there is someone praying for the very things you take for granted. Spend your effort where God needs you to be
on the front lines of the war on earth, not on the battlefields of the past. — Shannon L. Alder

When I talk of forgiveness I mean the belief that you can come out the other side a better person. A better person than the one being consumed by anger and hatred. Remaining in that state locks you in a state of victimhood, making you almost dependent on the perpetrator. If you can find it in yourself to forgive then you are no longer chained to the perpetrator. You can move on, and you can even help the perpetrator to become a better person too — Desmond Tutu

You cannot travel back in time to fix your mistakes, but you can learn from them and forgive yourself for not knowing better. — Leon Brown

You want to know how to stop this killer? Forgive yourself, and he'll
disappear from your life forever."
"Thanks. I'll be sure to do that."
And I know:
1. This is almost the same conversation I've had with myself many times
before.
2. Gordon's only trying to help.
But it doesn't matter.
I:
1. Say, "See you later."
2. Step outside.
3. Close the door.
I don't want to, really. I want to go back inside and believe Gordon's words,
like a child believing in a fairy tale, and I want to escape this nightmare forever.
But I can't.
I realize now that it's easy to tell the difference between a real problem and
an imaginary one.
It's just the terror of facing the truth that's hard. — Jeremy C. Shipp

Have you ever considered that you shouldn't pray for God to deliver you from your enemies, rather deliver you from yourself so you can not hate them? — Shannon L. Alder

You can never forgive yourself without forgiving others. Forgive others to find and create peace in your soul. — Debasish Mridha

You must forgive yourself, you know, for not knowing any better than you did at the time that you make something so. If you can do this much, you can release yourself from a magnitude of contention that you have created against the self. If you decide, right now, that every choice that you have ever made was born in awareness that you held at the moment that choice was made, you can be understanding of the way that you operated and when. If you knew now what you knew then, you may well have done differently, but you cannot — Paul Selig

Failing to forgive yourself for certain wrongs you committed in the past can create self-dislike. — Stephen Richards

You can't hold on, Zoe. Not to hate. Not even to love. You kill things that way. There's only one freedom. Forgiveness. And sometimes the hardest thing to do is to forgive yourself. — Pamela Todd

of course you understand why he can't forgive you because you can't forgive yourself. You don't even believe God forgave you...if you did you'd shove off that shame. Jesus forgave you. Why can't you? Why can't Jack? — Sarah Sundin

You can only forgive yourself for the mistakes you made in the past once you know you'll never make them again. — Taylor Jenkins Reid

Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us. As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness or unforgiveness of your sins, then, and hence also your salvation or destruction, depend on you yourself. For without forgiveness of sins there is no salvation. You can see for yourself how serious it is. — Tikhon Of Zadonsk

You must learn to forgive yourself as easily as you forgive others. And then take a further step and use all that energy that you used in condemning yourself for improving yourself. After that I really started to get somewhere - because there's only one person you can change and that's yourself. After you have changed yourself, you might be able to inspire others to look for change. — Peace Pilgrim

I know that in the end, God will forgive me. He will forgive your father, me, and you too. I hope you can do the same. Forgive your father if you can. Forgive me if you wish. But most important, forgive yourself. — Khaled Hosseini

Before making a snap judgment, ask yourself if it really is something that has hurt you or simply just made you angry at yourself for allowing it to happen. It's amazing what 'sleeping on it' can do. A new day sees a new beginning. — Stephen Richards

But you don"t get it. There are so many things I love about you. There's your tendency to hit me on my shoulder because you think I'm saying something stupid or annoying. When you argue with me instead of letting me have the last word. The way you love to play football and embrace it. Your love for your friends and family. Your ability to forgive is impeccable. I love how you like to read even if one of your favorite books is something my best friend had written. The way you are around me, acting like yourself without a care in the world. I could tell that when you were dating my brother, you hid yourself...I knew that and I know it wasn't you. I love how you must think that your violence can be categorized in type of real aggression disorder but it's just you. I love how you can basically eat the whole world in front of me and how you can stand by me even when I make the biggest mistakes. I wish I could spend my entire life telling you I love you because there's so many more reasons. — Nikki20038

If you think that trusting someone - allowing them to help you by performing their own duties honorably - somehow makes you less, then it might be time to reexamine yourself. Start asking why you need to do everything. How can you really be close to someone if you never let them in?" "Forgive — Jodi Meadows

You cannot do more than you can, so be gentle with yourself and quick to forgive your mistakes and to move on. — Toni Sorenson

When her pain is fresh and new, let her have it. Don't try to take it away. Forgive yourself for not having that power. Grief and pain are like joy and peace; they are not things we should try to snatch from each other. They're sacred. they are part of each person's journey. All we can do is offer relief from this fear: I am all alone. That's the one fear you can alleviate. — Glennon Doyle Melton

Total compassion leads to total forgiveness. You can't force yourself to forgive anyone. Forgiveness doesn't belong to the mind. It is a feeling of the heart. — Deepak Chopra

Because I know you, Sarah. You can forgive everyone in the world except for yourself. I wanted the truth, not your rose-colored version of it. — Anonymous

When you initially forgive, it is like letting go of a hot iron. There is initial pain and the scars will show, but you can start living again. — Stephen Richards

When you laugh at yourself, you gain perspective. Then you realize that the mistakes you made, as long as they didn't hurt anyone but yourself - well, you can forgive yourself for those. — Dean Koontz

Look inside yourself; there is always something special you can do today! Look around yourself; there is always someone special do it for! Don't spare what you have to share, show you care and dare not to make it rare! — Israelmore Ayivor

If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others. — Dolores Huerta

I ... There was a time when I stopped talking. Just like you. My reasons were a little bit different, but I think the feelings of being ashamed of myself and hating myself are the same. Here, it says to "like yourself." What does that mean? Good things- how are you supposed to find them? I only know things that I hate about myself. Because that's all I know, I hate myself. But even if you force yourself to find good things, it feels so empty. It doesn't work that way. People like your teacher just don't get it. I think when you hear someone say they like you, for the first time, then you can begin to like yourself. I think when someone accepts you, for the first time, you feel like you can forgive yourself a little. You can begin to face your fears with courage. — Natsuki Takaya

There's no operation where you can have your anger cut out. But if you work on yourself, as you get better, you'll be more capable of seeing others as flawed human beings. That makes it easier to forgive. — Robin Quivers

Be flexible. Be compassionate. Rules can never cure insecurity. Integrity matters. Never try to script what your relationships will look like. Love is abundant. Compatibility matters. You cannot sacrifice your happiness for that of another. Own your own shit. Admit when you fuck up. Forgive when others fuck up. Don't try to find people to stuff into the empty spaces in your life; instead, make spaces for the people in your life. If you need a relationship to complete you, get a dog. It is almost impossible to be loving or compassionate when all you feel is fear of loss. Trust that your partners want to be with you, and that if given the freedom to do anything they please, they will choose to cherish and support you. Most relationship problems can be avoided by good partner selection. Nobody can give you security or self-esteem; you have to build that yourself. — Franklin Veaux

If you can forgive yourself then you will no longer see the reflection of your own internal judgement in the faces of the people around you. And if you can do that then suddenly you'll be in a whole different universe because the universe we all exist in is the one where we're all so terrified of the judgement of our peers. — Duncan Trussell

That person who is the hardest to forgive is the one who can teach you the greatest lessons. When you love yourself enough to rise above the old situation, then understanding and forgiveness will be easy. And you'll be free. — Louise Hay

If you can't forgive yourself ... doesn't matters if others do — Swetha Dhanagari

Beyond telling and getting away however there are an awful lot of myths out there about how to move on or get justice. People may tell you to report the crime or confront you abuser- or even to forgive him. I don't necessarily advocate any of these things. I think counseling of some kind can be enormously useful, but the bottom line is that the main way to heal is to find people who will support you, to talk about what happened, and to ground yourself in the reality that the abuse was not your fault, that you have nothing to be ashamed of, and that you deserve great love and happiness in your life. — Patti Feuereisen

I figured out that I can't forget. I can't really forgive. But I can live. Live with it. Like you live with a scar or a limp or whatever. You always know it's there. It reminds you never to let yourself do anything so stupid and horrible and wrong again. I step out of my rut, step again, and keep stepping. (277) — Gail Giles

You can learn to heal yourself, learn to understand that the pain you feel today is the strength you feel tomorrow! — Stephen Richards

The world can be an unforgiving place; this is why you must learn to forgive yourself. This is why you must learn to give yourself permission to want what you want and to go after it with everything you have. This is why you must learn to give yourself the love you crave, the kindness you yearn for, and the compassion you need. This is why you must fill the lacks you discover with something other than criticism, hate, or anger. This is why you must forgive yourself - because that's how you become whole again. — Emily Maroutian

Do yourself a favor and forgive anyone that has anything against you. Do it as an act of faith and trust God to change and heal your emotions. Pray for your enemies and never say another unkind thing about them. It is the only way you can move past the pain and begin to heal. — Joyce Meyer

A stranger can see in an instant something in you that you might spend years learning about yourself. How awful we all are when we look at ourselves under a light, finally seeing our reflections. How little we know about ourselves. How much forgiveness it must take to love a person, to choose not to see their flaws, or to see those flaws and love the person anyway. If you never forgive you'll always be alone. — Stephen Elliott

You can love them, forgive them, want good things for them ... but still move on without them. — Mandy Hale

Forgiveness" is a term that has been in use for two thousand years, but most people have a very limited view of what it means. You cannot truly forgive yourself or others as long as you derive your sense of self from the past. Only through accessing the power of the Now, which is your own power, can there be true forgiveness. This renders the past powerless, and you realize deeply that nothing you ever did or that was ever done to you could touch even in the slightest the radiant essence of who you are. The whole concept of forgiveness then becomes unnecessary. — Eckhart Tolle

I don't know what happened between the two of you. I don't know if it can be forgiven. The hardest thing always is to forgive yourself. — Antonia Michaelis

If you can't forgive yourself, you think you're never going to be able to forgive yourself, and you repeat the same behavior. — Bill Hader

Forgiveness is the key to breaking the cycle of karma and reincarnation. Forgiveness doesn't mean: "What you did was okay." It simply means, "I'm no longer willing to carry the heavy toxic burdens of anger, resentment, and victimhood in my soul." You can work on healing, uplifting, and changing situations from a place of forgiveness, instead of from a place of resentment. Forgive yourself and everyone, and you are free! — Doreen Virtue

No one can or will ever feel your pain as much as you. Forgive yourself for the past, seize the gift of the present moment. — K.J. Kilton

If you forgive more than you can afford, you may find yourself impoverished in emotion afterward, with a lowered resistance to whatever happens after that. — Glenway Wescott

A broken friendship that is mended through forgiveness can be even stronger than it once was. — Stephen Richards

Forgive yourself. The supreme act of forgiveness is when you can forgive yourself for all the wounds you've created in your own life. Forgiveness is an act of self-love. When you forgive yourself, self-acceptance begins and self-love grows. — Miguel Angel Ruiz

Can you forgive her? Can you do that?
There was no response.
Because if you can start to forgive, then it will become easier.
And?
And then you will be able to forgive yourself - and ask others to forgive you. — Alexander McCall Smith

If it helps you. I forgive you. But i have learned in recent weekd that seeking forgiveness from others is meaningless unless you can forgive yourself. — Maya Banks

If you feel "stuck" today, you may want to examine what you're holding on to. Be willing let go of past disappointments by choosing forgiveness. Who hurt you? Who wronged you? Release it to God. Do you need to forgive yourself? Do you need to receive God's forgiveness? Let go of the past so you can overcome disappointments and experience the bright future God has in store for you! There is freedom in forgetting! — Joel Osteen

The key is to forgive and let go of the hate, but never forget. Never forget so that you can protect yourself in the future. We can't always avoid everything and everyone who would hurt us
for that would be avoiding life. But we can be smarter..We can choose not to ignore the signs, for there are always signs. — B.Knight

You can still make today the day you change yourself, love yourself, forgive yourself, respect yourself, honor yourself, cherish yourself, admire yourself, express yourself, be true to yourself ... It's never too late! — Steve Maraboli

If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you. — Elizabeth Gilbert

Forgiveness is the most powerful thing you can do for yourself. If you can't learn to forgive, you can forget about achieving true success in your life. — Wayne Dyer

So before you decide you can't forgive her, ask yourself if you want to live without her. We're only here for a short time, man. Don't waste it. — K.J. Bell

Shake hands with yourself. Forgive yourself and you can learn to love yourself and others in the manner that brings you the greatest fulfillment of all. With love, all things are truly possible. - Charmainism — Charmaine Smith Ladd

You are not, though, forgiving so as to let others off with things. You are forgiving so that you can empower yourself to get over it and become strong. — Stephen Richards

If you cannot forgive others, how can you forgive yourself? — Debasish Mridha

Forgive yourself, for anything and everything. This includes things you did as an adult and way back to things you have done since you were born. You can't change the past, so let it go and move on. You won't really have peace in general until you make peace with yourself. You need to generally like yourself and get along with yourself, because you will always be there. You can't get away from yourself. Wherever you go, there you are. So become your own friend, then you will have peace inside of yourself. God, the perfect and holy one, even gives you grace; so give yourself grace. You never have been and never will be perfect. So get over trying to be. Amen — Lisa Bedrick

A soul that is nurtured by hatred toward man can not be at peace with God, Who has said: If you forgive not men their sins, neither shall your Father forgive your sins (Matt. 6:15). If a man does not want to be reconciled, you must at least guard yourself from hating, praying with a pure heart for him, and speaking no evil of him. — Maximus The Confessor

Bring it up, make amends, forgive yourself. It sounds simple, but don't think for a second that it is easy. Getting free from the tyranny of past mistakes can be hard work, but definitely worth the effort. And the payoff is health, wholeness and inner peace. In other words, you get your life back. — Steve Goodier

There are times when you don't belong and you think you're going to kill yourself. Once I went to a hotel. Later that night I made a plan. The plan was I would leave my family when my second child was born. And that's what I did. I got up one morning, made breakfast, went to the bus stop, got on a bus. I'd left a note. I got a job in a library in Canada. It would be wonderful to say you regretted it. It would be easy. But what does it mean? What does it mean to regret when you have no choice? It's what you can bear. There it is. No-one's going to forgive me. It was death. I chose life. -Laura Brown- — Michael Cunningham

It's toughest to forgive ourselves. So it's probably best to start with other people. It's almost like peeling an onion. Layer by layer, forgiving others, you really do get to the point where you can forgive yourself. — Patty Duke

It's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody. — Maya Angelou

And if your friend does evil to you, say to him, 'I forgive you for what you did to me, but how can I forgive you for what you did to yourself? — Friedrich Nietzsche

Then maybe Roman will be able to forgive me."
"I believe he will." Father Andrew glanced at Connor. "Can you forgive yourself? — Kerrelyn Sparks

You can't move on, if you haven't forgiven yourself, yet. — Basma Salem

I don't know what happened, but I do know this. It's not going anywhere. When you light up it waits for you to come down. You have to confront whatever's bothering you and look it straight in the eye. It's alright to forgive yourself, and it's okay to fight back, because if you don't kick the shit out of it, then it kicks you. It's a dog world, but you can control it, if you want to. A lot of people are going to try to make you feel like shit, but that doesn't mean you are. You are who you decide to be. I hope you're the kind of person that fights, because that's the only way to win. — E.M. Youman

Be gentle with yourself, learn to love yourself, to forgive yourself, for only as we have the right attitude toward ourselves can we have the right attitude toward others. — Wilferd Peterson

You can sit there forever, lamenting about how bad you've been, feeling guilty until you die, and not one tiny slice of that guilt will do anything to change a single thing in the past. Forgive yourself, then MOVE ON! — Wayne Dyer

You can forgive yourself a great deal. — Eddie Albert

Learn to forgive. First others, then yourself - mostly yourself. But you have to forgive. "Get rid of the negativity. So much of your life can go down this dark drain if you let it. Every negative feeling makes you sicker. Every positive feeling makes you better. — Lionel Fisher

Don't you think that if God can supposedly forgive you, it's kind of egotistical for you not to forgive yourself? — Richelle Mead

We all commit our crimes. The thing is to not lie about them
to try to understand what you have done, why you have done it. That way, you can begin to forgive yourself. That's very important. If you don't forgive yourself you'll never be able to forgive anybody else and you'll go on committing the same crimes forever. — James Baldwin

If you can't forgive yourself, how can you expect me to? — E.C. Myers

We all make mistakes, don't we? But if you can't forgive yourself, you'll always be an exile in your own life. — Curtis Sittenfeld

There was a time I stopped talking, just like you. My reasons were a little bit different, but... I think the feelings of being ashamed of myself and hating myself... are the same. Here it says "to like yourself." What does that mean? Good things---how are you supposed to find them? I only know things that I hate about myself. Because that's all I know: I hate myself. Even if your force yourself to find good things... it feels so empty. It doesn't work that way. People like your teacher just don't get it.
I think... when you hear someone say they like you for the first time... then you can begin to like yourself. I think when someone accepts you for the first time... you feel like you can forgive yourself a little. You can begin to face your fears.

~Yuki — Natsuki Takaya