Quotes About Forgiveness

A woman never overcomes these problems by any exercise of thought. They are not to be solved, or only in one way. If her heart chance to come uppermost, they vanish. Thus Hester Prynne, whose heart had lost its regular and healthy throb, wandered without a clue in the dark labyrinth of mind; now turned aside by an insurmountable precipice; now starting back from a deep chasm. There was wild and ghastly scenery all around her, and a home and comfort nowhere.

Individuals in private life, meanwhile, had quite forgiven Hester Prynne for her frailty; nay, more, they had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.

Her breast, with its badge of shame, was but the softer pillow for the head that needed one.

Peace be with all the world! My blessing on my friends! My forgiveness to my enemies! For I am in the realm of quiet!

Let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart.

Gott hat mir das Kind gegeben!, schrie sie. Er gab es mir als Ausgleich für alles, was ihr mir genommen habt! Sie ist meine Freude!- sie ist auch meine Qual! Pearl hält mich in diesem Leben. Und Pearl bestraft mich. Seht ihr nicht, sie ist der Scharlachbuchstabe, imstande nur, geliebt zu werden, und darum millionenfach ausgestattet mit der Macht, mich für meine Sünden zu bestrafen. Ihr werdet sie mir nicht nehmen! Eher sterbe ich!

Es war der letzte Ausdruck der Kleinmütigkeit einer gebrochenen Seele. Ihm fehlte die Energie, nach dem besseren Schicksal zu greifen, das in seiner Reichweite schien. Er wiederholte das Wort. Allein Hester! Du wirst nicht allein gehen! flüsterte sie leise zur Antwort. Damit war alles gesagt.

She could scarcely forgive him--least of all now, when the heavy footstep of their approaching Fate might be heard, nearer, nearer, nearer!--for being able so completely to withdraw himself from their mutual world--while she groped darkly, and stretched forth her cold hands, and found him not.

What can a ruined soul, like mine, effect towards the redemption of other souls??—or a polluted soul towards their purification?

Heaven would show mercy," rejoined Hester, "hadst thou but the strength to take advantage of it.

It is to the credit of human nature that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and a quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility.

She deemed it her crime most to be repented of, that she had ever endured and reciprocated the lukewarm grasp of his hand, and had suffered the smile of her lips and eyes to mingle and melt into his own.

She was patient,—a martyr, indeed,—but she forbore to pray for her enemies; lest, in spite of her forgiving aspirations, the words of the blessing should stubbornly twist themselves into a curse.

We have wronged each other, answered he. "Mine was the first wrong, when I betrayed thy budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay.

when a man's spirit has been thoroughly crushed, he may be peevish at small offences, but never resentful of great ones.

Let God punish! Thou shalt forgive!

Not a stitch in that embroidered letter, but she has felt it in her heart.

the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too.

O, espíritu débil, egoísta, indigno, que aún podía soñar con una unión y felicidad terrenales depués de haber agraviado con tan amargas e injustas palabras el profundo amor que por él sentía Beatrice.

Ella debía pasar dolorosamente, con su corazón destrozado, a través de las fronteras del tiempo; debía lavar sus heridas en alguna fuene del Paraíso, y olvidar su pena en la luz de la inmortalidad; ¡y allí estaría a salvo!

Could it be true? She clutched the child so fiercely to her breast, that it sent forth a cry; she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real. Yes! — these were her realities, — all else had vanished!

The only unforgivable sin is to look into the human heart without compassion.

What would love do now?

Forgiveness of self is all forgivenesses starts