The kindest and the happiest pair
Will find occasion to forbear;
And something every day they live
To pity, and perhaps forgive.
—Cowper.
It is a noble and a great thing to cover the blemishes and to excuse the failings of a friend; to draw a curtain before his stains, and to display his perfections; to bury his weaknesses in silence, but to proclaim his virtues upon the house-top.—South.
Forgiveness.—If ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you.—Matthew 6:14.
He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.—Lord Herbert.
They who forgive most shall be most forgiven.—Bailey.
The brave only know how to forgive.—Sterne.
The gospel comes to the sinner at once with nothing short of complete forgiveness as the starting-point of all his efforts to be holy. It does not say, "Go and sin no more, and I will not condemn thee." It says at once, "Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more."—Horatius Bonar.
Life, that ever needs forgiveness, has, for its first duty, to forgive.—Lytton.
Alas! if my best Friend, who laid down His life for me, were to remember all the instances in which I have neglected Him, and to plead them against me in judgment, where should I hide my guilty head in the day of recompense? I will pray, therefore, for blessings on my friends, even though they cease to be so, and upon my enemies, though they continue such.—Cowper.
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.—The Lord's Prayer.