QuoteProject
An apology offered and, equally important, received is a step towards reconciliation and, sometimes, recompense. Without that process, hurts can rankle and fester and erupt into their own hatreds and wrongdoings.
Margaret Macmillan
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

An apology is essential for healing and mending relationships.

This quote emphasizes the importance of both giving and receiving apologies in the process of reconciliation. It highlights that without addressing grievances through apology, unresolved feelings can lead to greater animosity and conflict.

Themes

ApologyForgivenessReconciliationRelationshipsHealing

In practice

Example use cases

During a conflict resolution workshop, this quote could be shared to emphasize the importance of addressing past mistakes.

More from Margaret Macmillan

Climate change respects no borders.
Margaret MacmillanRead
War is a crucial, deeply ingrained part of human history. It has to be understood.
Margaret MacmillanRead
There was that argument that if we had more women in positions of authority, the world would be a nicer place. And then we got Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Indira Gandhi. When women become acclimatised to war, they can become every bit as ruthless as men.
Margaret MacmillanRead
Theodore Roosevelt's policy to build a two-ocean navy confirmed that the old-style isolationism of the founders had not survived the modern, increasingly globalized world.
Margaret MacmillanRead
If we don't take responsibility for each other, it seems to me the future is going to be even bleaker.
Margaret MacmillanRead
Nominally left- and right-wing populists differ primarily in their choice of which 'others' to exclude and attack, with the former singling out big corporations and oligarchs, and the latter targeting ethnic or religious minorities.
Margaret MacmillanRead

Similar quotes

Back in the day, coming out was something very personal. You began by acknowledging the truth, first to yourself, then to close family and friends. Those of us more in the public spotlight, though, also had to 'come out' to the press.
George TakeiRead
In the end, like so many beautiful promises in our lives, that dinner date never came to be.
Haruki MurakamiRead
Even though many couples are choosing to marry later in life, our laws haven't been updated to address dating partner abuse.
Gabrielle GiffordsRead
All my adult life I've felt drawn to ask long-married couples how they were able to stay together. All of them said the same thing: "We worked hard at it.
Randy PauschRead
I do not think I responded immediately, for it took me a moment or two to fully digest these words of Miss Kenton. Moreover, as you might appreciate, their implications were such as to provoke a certain degree of sorrow within me. Indeed- why should I not admit it? - at that moment, my heart was breaking.
Kazuo IshiguroRead
The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals.
George OrwellRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.