When we apologize we end our struggle with history.

"I would like to apologize" may sound like an apology, but it is no more an actual apology than saying "I would like to lose weight" makes you suddenly slimmer.

Apology is both transactional, in that it restores what has been broken to what it was before, and transformational, in that it creates opportunities that didn't exist before.

Apology sends the clearest signal that we have the strength of character to reconcile ourselves with the truth.

We rarely wrestle with apology and lose.

One of the most useful tasks of apology is to bring home to us how keenly, honestly, and painfully past generations pursued aims that now seem to us wrong and disgraceful. It behooves us to consider if future geenrations will similarly regard the aims we most defend today.

Apology is the practice of extending ourselves because we value the relationship more than we value the need to be right.