An apology can be a powerful thing. From empowering the individual to finding a resolution to a problem, public apologies are becoming a common part of solving political and public discourse in response to rhetorical practices used by public figures. Here are some interesting quotes about the value in accepting an apology.
“After thinking it through, I realize this was just a misunderstanding and that you didn’t mean to hurt me. I accept your apology.”
“Apologies aren’t meant to change the past, they are meant to change the future.”
“Apologies require taking full responsibility. No half-truths, no partial admissions, no rationalizations, no finger pointing, and no justifications belong in any apology.”
“Apologizing does not always mean you’re wrong and the other person is right. It just means you value your relationship more than your ego.”
“Apology suggests that you are keeping me from doing what I need to do, which implies I am somehow powerless to do otherwise.”
“But when someone does wrong, when we make mistakes, we don’t say we’re sorry. We promise to make amends.”
“By the time most people say ‘I’m sorry’ it is already too late.”
“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”
“Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.”
“Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is again made clean.”
“Habitual excuses for inactivity indicates little or no interest in what one ought to have done.”
“He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.”
“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
“I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note—torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.”
“I know I wasn’t the person you needed me to be before, but I can be if you’ll let me.”
“I loved and adored you, but I drained you like a thirsty man at a spring. I loved what you could give me – your admiration, your acceptance, your love, your forgiveness. I forgot to love you for yourself.”
“I owed the greater apology, but at the same time I knew that was done was done, that no matter what I said now I would never be able to make it right.”
“I thought to myself: I am wiser than this man; neither of us probably knows anything that is really good, but he thinks he has knowledge, when he has not, while I, having no knowledge, do not think I have.”
“I wish for you the wisdom to realize that forgiveness has nothing to do with an apology.”
“In this life, when you deny someone an apology, you will remember it at time you beg forgiveness.”
“It pains me to be an embarrassment to you, but I don’t know how to remedy my flaws. All I know is that whenever I feel strongly compelled to act, a doubt always arises.”
“Liars are highly unlikely to admit their lies, never mind apologize for the hurt they’ve caused. Liars don’t genuinely apologize. Deceit has become their full-out lifestyle.”
“Never apologize for showing your feelings. When you do, you are apologizing for the truth.”
“Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.”
“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”
“Nothing says you’re sorry like a dead bunny.”
“Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.”
“Sometimes you withhold an apology for having wronged someone, in a state where you were not yourself. Because some states of life can never be understood by those who have not experienced them.”
“Sometimes, an apology sets free a part of you that you didn’t even realize was caged…and forgiveness destroys the cage.”
“Sorry, always sorry. What in the world can you buy with an apology?”
“The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.”
“The longer you hold onto an apology, the harder it is to give.”
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
“When your only regret is if anyone thinks you regret anything – that is the definition of conviction.”
Not everyone may be open to accepting your apology. Be prepared to incorporate additional strategies to bring about resolution.
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