To miss out on joy is to miss out on the reason for your existence.

I am certain that people never forgive because they believe they have an obligation to do it or because someone told them to do it. Forgiveness has to come from inside as a desire of the heart. Wanting to is the steam that pushes the forgiving engine.

You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.

If you cannot free people from their wrongs and see them as the needy people they are, you enslave yourself to your own painful past and by fastening yourself to the past, you let your hate become your future.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.

When you release the wrongdoer from the wrong, you cut a malignant tumor out of your inner life. You set a prisoner free, but you discover that the real prisoner was yourself.

We feel guilty for what we do. We feel shame for what we are.