Forgiveness is a process of release so the opposite is a decision to hold onto something. By refusing to forgive someone, we get to cast ourselves as victims, as underdogs, as injured parties. Most important, we get to preserve our status in the conflict - usually, as the person who's "right." In reality, we only keep the suffering alive for ourselves. We are the ones we end up punishing.
Forgiveness
The art of setting down heavy baggage you no longer need to carry
Hatred is a curse that does not affect the hated. It only poisons the hater. Release a grudge as if it was a poison.
To heal a wound you must stop scratching it.
People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.
Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.
Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.
The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest.
Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred.
When you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future.
True forgiveness is when you can say, "Thank you for that experience."
Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.
Unforgiveness is the poison we swallow hoping the other person will die.
Forgiveness is the final form of love.
We think that forgiveness is weakness, but it's absolutely not; it takes a very strong person to forgive.
Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.
To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.
Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person's throat.
The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.
Forgiveness means it finally becomes unimportant that you hit back.
Without forgiveness, there's no future.
Forgiveness is the needle that knows how to mend what punishment tears apart.
When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel.
Forgiveness is the virtue of the brave.
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.