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For still in mutual sufferance lies
The secret of true living;
Love scarce is love that never knows
The sweetness of forgiving.

— John Greenleaf Whittier Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

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Forgiveness

More quotes by John Greenleaf Whittier

O, brother man! fold to thy heart thy brother;
where pity dwells, the peace of God is there.

Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country's flag," she said.

Barbara Frietchie (1863)

The windows of my soul I throw
Wide open to the sun.

When faith is lost, when honor dies
The man is dead!

Life is ever lord of Death
And Love can never lose its own.

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It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Muhammad

Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep away and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

Abraham

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Al-Tirmidhi

I also am other than what I imagine myself to be. To know this is forgiveness.

Simone Weil Simone Weil : An Anthology (1986)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Greenleaf Whittier (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.