Apology & Forgiveness Quotes for Letters
A quote will not apologise for you, but it can help you find the tone. These 100 quotes about apology and forgiveness are a starting point — copy one, then say plainly what you did, what it cost, and what you will do differently.
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What an apology quote can and cannot do
A quote can set the tone and get you past the first line. It cannot do the apologising, and leaning on it too heavily has a specific failure mode: a letter that gestures beautifully at regret without ever naming what happened reads as evasion, no matter how sincere the feeling behind it.
The three things a real apology contains
Name the specific thing you did. Name its effect in the other person's terms rather than your own. State what you will do differently as a decision already made rather than an offer conditional on their response. Anything else is optional, and explanation in particular tends to work against you — explanation and apology pull in opposite directions.
Then stop
The most common mistake is ending with a request: for forgiveness, for a reply, for reassurance that things are all right. That turns the apology into something about your own relief. Say it, and leave room. If you want the longer version, our guide to writing an apology letter that heals covers the full structure.
100 apology quotes
“Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
“Words spoken in anger are the hardest to take back, and the most important to apologize for.”
— Unknown
“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.”
— Harriet Beecher Stowe
“When you realize you've made a mistake, make amends immediately. It's easier to eat crow while it's still warm.”
— Dan Heist
“Forgive me for my mistakes, I am still a child learning the lessons of life.”
— Unknown
“We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil.”
— Alison Croggon
“A stiff apology is a second insult. The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.”
— G.K. Chesterton
“Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against the natural instinct to pay back evil with evil.”
— Pope John Paul II
“Apologizing does not always mean you are wrong and the other person is right. It means you value your relationship more than your ego.”
— Unknown
“Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.”
— Desmond Tutu
“The hardest words to say are often the most important ones: I was wrong, and I am sorry.”
— Unknown
“Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
“A relationship that survives an honest apology grows stronger at the broken places.”
— Unknown
“I was wrong. I'm sorry. Three little words that can mend almost anything, when they are truly meant.”
— Unknown
“Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.”
— Benjamin Disraeli
“The art of a sincere and heartfelt apology is one of the greatest skills you will ever learn.”
— Jeanette LeBlanc
“Would 'sorry' have made any difference? Does it ever? It's just a word. One word against a thousand actions.”
— Sarah Ockler
“Never forget the nine most important words of any family: I love you. You are beautiful. Please forgive me.”
— H. Jackson Brown Jr.
“Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another.”
— Emma Goldman
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
“You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.”
— Lewis B. Smedes
“Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift.”
— Margaret Lee Runbeck
“I would rather lose my pride to keep you than keep my pride and lose you.”
— Unknown
“It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity.”
— Stephen Covey
“Anyone can make mistakes, but only the wise learn from them and seek forgiveness.”
— Unknown
“Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember.”
— Lewis B. Smedes
“Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.”
— Robert Brault
“A genuine apology is like an antibiotic; a fake apology is like a sugar pill.”
— Randy Pausch
“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.”
— Cherie Carter-Scott
“An apology given just to appease one's conscience is self-serving and better left unspoken.”
— Evinda Lepins
“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.”
— Steve Maraboli
“Love in the real world means saying you're sorry ten times a day.”
— Kathie Lee Gifford
“Apologies aren't meant to change the past, they are meant to change the future.”
— Kevin Hancock
“It's one thing to say you're sorry. It's another thing entirely to show it.”
— Unknown
“I know saying sorry won't undo what happened, but I hope it can be the start of making things right.”
— Unknown
“Sincere apologies are for those that make them, not for those to whom they are made.”
— Greg LeMond
“Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.”
— Jonathan Lockwood Huie
“There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.”
— Bryant H. McGill
“An apology is the superglue of life! It can repair just about anything.”
— Lynn Johnston
“Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.”
— William Arthur Ward
“Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them.”
— Unknown
“True remorse is never just a regret over consequence; it is a regret over motive.”
— Mignon McLaughlin
“One of the most lasting pleasures you can experience is the feeling that comes over you when you genuinely forgive an enemy — whether he knows it or not.”
— O.A. Battista
“If we all hold on to the mistake, we can't see our own glory in the mirror because we have the mistake between our faces and the mirror.”
— Maya Angelou
“A meaningful apology has three parts: I'm sorry. It was my fault. How do I make it right?”
— Unknown
“Sorry means you feel the pulse of other people's pain as well as your own, and saying it means you take a share of it.”
— Craig Silvey
“Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.”
— Nelson Mandela
“Saying sorry to someone is hard, but putting your pride aside for someone is even harder.”
— Unknown
“If I did anything wrong, it was loving you too much and showing it too little.”
— Unknown
“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”
— Mark Twain
“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred.”
— Corrie ten Boom
“He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
“Only the brave know how to forgive. A coward never forgives; it is not in his nature.”
— Laurence Sterne
“The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest.”
— Unknown
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
“I'm sorry isn't always enough to repair the damage, but it's the only honest place to begin.”
— Unknown
“Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.”
— Tryon Edwards
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
— Lewis B. Smedes
“Gorgeous hair is the best revenge — but a sincere apology is the best resolution.”
— Unknown
“In some families, 'please' is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was 'sorry.'”
— Margaret Laurence
“The past cannot be changed, but a sincere apology can change everything that comes after it.”
— Unknown
“When you forgive, you in no way change the past — but you sure do change the future.”
— Bernard Meltzer
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