The Gift of Forgiveness Quotes

“forgiveness is an act of self-love. Holding on to a traumatic past does nothing but consume your present emotional space.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Recasting your story is one of the keys of breaking free from the past. We must abandon the victim narrative and become our own protagonist.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“When I wrote that letter, it was for me to forgive my twenty-two-year-old scared, wounded, traumatized self, who had dropped the ball and just moved on with her life because she didn’t know how else to proceed. In many ways, the act of forgiveness was to myself.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Deb felt as if she had been taken back to her twenty-two-year-old self and cleansed of the pain of that haunting night.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Whether we’s rich or whether we’s poor, or something in between, this earth ain’t no final resting place. So in a way, we all are homeless, just working our way home.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“I will never bring this up again. You are forgiven,”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“the very act of sharing loving energy with them will come back to me in a healing way.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“I try to heal myself by sending them love instead of anger.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“We tend to jump immediately to hate or other negative emotions when someone has wronged us, even if it involves people we love deeply.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“there is always someone in a worse situation,” which allows her to keep things in perspective.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“no matter how much they suffered, they always did what was right.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“If I forgive them, that means they’re right and I’m wrong.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“You can forgive them and still not be okay with them.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“When you forgive a person, you break the ties with their ill deeds that keep you in anguish.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Our past mistakes can make us more empathetic, and old losses can make us more compassionate.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“withholding forgiveness “starts to destroy you, it starts to eat you up.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“The one thing that nobody can take away is our ability to decide how we react to those situations.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Holding on to a traumatic past does nothing but consume your present emotional space.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“forgiveness is an act of self-love.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“she wasn’t going to sacrifice her future for a past she could not change.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Surrounding herself with love also means distancing herself from people who might drag her backward”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“as your love for yourself grows, you will be able to let go of what’s happened to you.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“forgiveness is not a gift you give to others; it’s something you do for yourself—while also not excusing what happened to you.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“there is no right way or one way to forgive. There’s only your way.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Forgiving too easily can lock you into unhealthy patterns that can last for years.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could be any different. It’s accepting the past for what it was and using this moment and this time to help yourself move forward.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“For her, 'I apologize' is about taking responsibility for your own actions, while 'I'm sorry' doesn't adequately acknowledge your role in the wrongdoing or indicate that you intend to change your ways.”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could be any different. It’s accepting the past for what it was and using this moment and this time to help yourself move forward.” —Oprah Winfrey”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable

“Having empathy for Adam allowed Scarlett to become part of the solution. In her journey, she learned that there are two kinds of people in this world: “There are good people who want to be part of the solution, who are trying to implement social and emotional learning, and then there are good people in pain. And that’s what I see Adam Lanza as. Did he want to grow up to be a mass murderer? No way. That was the result of neglect and pain and disconnection. If we had given him the skills and the tools to be able to choose a better, happier path, doesn’t it make sense he would have chosen that?”
― Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable