Forgive Your Enemies Quotes & Sayings

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

Wish for the happiness of your enemies, for if they are happy, they are your enemy no more. — Bryant McGill

Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you. — Steve Maraboli

Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him ... Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness ... And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself. — Corrie Ten Boom

Father, please forgive me for all the times when I have said or done things in pride. I really have nothing to be proud about because all I have You have given to me. Please strike down the enemies of Your people, in every place in every land and country. Please deliver Your people today Lord, and knock their enemies to the ground. Please let Your people see and feel Your presence today Lord through Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. — Mark Arnold

Forgive your enemies, but first get even. — Lester Cole

And best of all, as the highest portraiture of Jesus, try to forgive your enemies, as He did; and let those sublime words of your Master, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," always ring in your ears. Forgive, as you hope to be forgiven. — Charles Haddon Spurgeon

When you are ill make haste to forgive your enemies, for you may recover. — Ambrose Bierce

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

With a little time, and a little more insight, we begin to see both ourselves and our enemies in humbler profiles. We are not really as innocent as we felt when we were first hurt. And we do not usually have a gigantic monster to forgive; we have a weak, needy, and somewhat stupid human being. When you see your enemy and yourself in the weakness and silliness of the humanity you share, you will make the miracle of forgiving a little easier. — Lewis B. Smedes

Don't forgive and never forget; Do unto others before they do unto you; and third and most importantly, keep your eye on your friends, because your enemies will take care of themselves! — JR

And recite to them the news of Abraham
When he said to his father and his people: What do you worship?
They said, "We worship idols and remain to them devoted.
He said, "Do they hear you when you supplicate?
Or do they benefit you, or do they harm?
They said, "But we found our fathers doing thus.
He said, "Then do you see what you have been worshipping,
You and your ancient forefathers?
Indeed, they are enemies to me, except the Lord of the worlds,
Who created me, and He [it is who] guides me.
And it is He who feeds me and gives me drink.
And when I am ill, it is He who cures me
And who will cause me to die and then bring me to life
And who I aspire that He will forgive me my sin on the Day of Recompense.
(A Translation of Quran , 69-82) — Qur'an

Never in your life have you been helpless - under somebody's heel. You never lived where your enemies held power over you, power to run your life or wipe it out. You can't understand. That's how come you stand there feeding me empty slogans!" Luciente bowed her head. "You crit me justly, Connie. Forgive me. I'll try to see your situation more clearly and make less loud noises in your ears. — Marge Piercy

You should forgive your enemies and if you haven't any, just forgive a few of your friends. — Howard Marion-Crawford

Prayer Thank You, Lord, that You are a God of justice who longs to show mercy and grace to us. Thank You that You are our great Defender against the Enemy, other people, and unjust suffering. Thank You that You see all we are going through and that You have compassion and pity on us. Help us to have compassion and pity on others who are likewise going through a time of trial or suffering. We ask that You would help us to bless our enemies and that You would use times of frustration, suffering, and trials to make us more like Jesus. Forgive us when we hurt others, and forgive us when we fall into gossip or self-pity. Give us the strength and grace to trust in You, lean on You, and depend on You at all times and in all things for Your perfect judgment and grace. In Jesus' name, Amen. — Beth Redman

It's said in Hollywood that you should always forgive your enemies - because you never know when you'll have to work with them. — Lana Turner

Once you start pushing your standards up, demons come out and show themselves behind the mask. I don't oppose anyone by nature but if someone opposes me, they reveal themselves as my enemy and enemies of anyone that wishes to be by my side. Besides, as you improve your life and move forward, the ones that weren't honest with you will certainly disappear. The opposite of this truth has consequences and they commonly come in the form of betrayal, deception, shock, abandonment and trauma. Life does not forgive or sympathizes with the ignorant. It never did. Such fact comes in the form of what many see as bad luck. — Robin Sacredfire

You never so touch the ocean of God's love as when you forgive and love your enemies. — Corrie Ten Boom

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

The Jesus I follow is the peacemaker, is one who says forgive your enemies, who worries about the poor, who worries about the poorest of the poor instead of the richest of the rich. — Frederick Buechner

I learned some invaluable lessons in Nashville that apply to both farming and show business: Do not corner something you know is meaner than you; keep skunks of all kinds at a distance; if you forgive your enemies, it messes up their heads. — Willie Nelson

That your enemies have been created is God's doing; that they hate you and wish to ruin you is their own doing. What should you say about them in your mind? "Lord be merciful to them, forgive them their sins, put the fear of God in them, change them!" You are loving in them not what they are, but what you would have them to become. — Saint Augustine

A Prince asked the dying spanish statesman, "Does your Excellency forgive all your enemies?" "I do not have to forgive all my enemies," answered the stateman, "I have had them all shot. — Robert Greene

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

~Mother Teresa — Mother Teresa

O God, I can no longer fight my battles alone. I need Your help, Your love. Forgive me for all my mistakes. Cleanse my heart of all evil. Show me the way to peace and quiet and health, and fill me with love even for my enemies — Unknown

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

Forgive your enemies ... it messes with their heads. — Charles Martin

It takes much courage and bravery to stand up to your enemies and say I love you and I forgive you. — Debasish Mridha

Bless them that persecute you.' If our enemy cannot put up with us any longer and takes to cursing us, our immediate reaction must be to lift up our hands and bless him. Our enemies are the blessed of the Lord. Their curse can do us no harm. May their poverty be enriched with all the riches of God, with the blessing of Him whom they seek to oppose in vain. We are ready to endure their curses so long as they redound to their blessing. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

John F. Kennedy says: 'Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.' I suggest that forgive your enemies and forget their names too! Don't leave any stone in your head; keep only the flowers, only the names of the good men! — Mehmet Murat Ildan

When you don't forgive you permit your enemies to live rent free in your head -evict them today. — Lee Ezell

And God knows I needed to be forgiven. So I had to forgive everybody. And then God - as I read in the word, you're supposed to pray for your enemies. Try that one on. — Jim Bakker

Forgive your enemies but don't forget what they did to you — Bangambiki Habyarimana

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

They say that when god was in Jerusalem he forgave his murderers, but now he will not forgive an honest man for differing with him on the subject of the Trinity. They say that God says to me, "Forgive your enemies." I say, "I do;" but he says, "I will damn mine." God should be consistent. If he wants me to forgive my enemies he should forgive his. I am asked to forgive enemies who can hurt me. God is only asked to forgive enemies who cannot hurt him. He certainly ought to be as generous as he asks us to be. — Robert Green Ingersoll

What is perfection in love? Love your enemies in such a way that you would desire to make them your brothers ... For so did He love, Who hanging on the Cross, said "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) — Saint Augustine

When he [Christ] says 'Forgive your enemies', it is not for the sake of the enemy but for one's own sake that he says so, and because Love is more beautiful than Hate. — Oscar Wilde

To live for others as a definite self-conscious aim was not his creed. It was not the basis of his creed. When he says, 'Forgive your enemies,' it is not for the sake of the enemy, but for one's own sake that he says so, and because love is more beautiful than hate. In his own entreaty to the young man, 'Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor,' it is not of the state of the poor that he is thinking but of the soul of the young man, the soul that wealth was marring. In his view of life he is one with the artist who knows that by the inevitable law of self-perfection, the poet must sing, and the sculptor think in bronze, and the painter make the world a mirror for his moods, as surely and as certainly as the hawthorn must blossom in spring, and the corn turn to gold at harvest-time, and the moon in her ordered wanderings change from shield to sickle, and from sickle to shield. — Oscar Wilde

Don't forgive your enemies for their sake - do it for your sake. — Bill Bartmann