One of the ironies of courage, and the reason why we prize it so highly, is that we find it easier to be brave for someone else than we do for ourselves alone.
Gregory David RobertsRead
It's forgiveness that makes us what we are. Without forgiveness, our species would've annihilated itself in endless retributions. Without forgiveness, there would be no history. Without that hope, there would be no art, for every work of art is in some way an act of forgiveness. Without that dream, there would be no love, for every act of love is in some way a promise to forgive. We live on because we can love, and we love because we can forgive.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Forgiveness is essential for our existence and relationships, as it allows love and creativity to flourish.
This quote emphasizes the fundamental role of forgiveness in human life. Gregory David Roberts suggests that without forgiveness, humanity would be trapped in a cycle of vengeance, leading to self-destruction. Forgiveness enables us to form connections, produce art, and cultivate love, showcasing its importance in our collective history and emotional well-being.
Themes
ForgivenessLoveHistoryArtHumanity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about conflict resolution, I would use this quote to highlight the importance of forgiveness.
More from Gregory David Roberts
All quotes →But I smiled, and smiling was easy, no matter how strange and disorienting the street seemed to be. I was a fugitive. I was a wanted man, a hunted man, with a price on my head. And I was still one step ahead of them. I was free. Every day, when you're on the run, is the whole of your life. Every free minute is a short story with a happy ending.
Gregory David RobertsRead
at first, when we truly love someone, our greatest fear is that the loved one will stop loving us. what we should fear and dread, of course, is that we wont stop loving them, even after they are dead and gone. for i still love you with the whole of my heart. i still love you. and sometimes, my friend, the love that i have and cant give to you, crushed the breast from my chest. soemtimes, even now, my heart is drowning in a sorrow that has no stars without you, and no laughter, and no sleep.
Gregory David RobertsRead
you can't kill love. you can't even kill it with hate. you can kill in-love, and loving, and even loveliness. you can kill them all, or numb them into dense, leaden regret, but you can't kill love itself. love is the passionate search for a truth other than your own; and once you feel it, honestly and completely, love is forever. every act of love, every moment of the heart reaching out, is a part of the universal good: it's a part of God, or what we call God, and it can never die.
Gregory David RobertsRead
Some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again. Some truths are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. Some things are so sad that only your soul can do the crying for them.
Gregory David RobertsRead
Similar quotes
I'm cool with failing so long as I know that there are people around me that love me unconditionally.
Dave ChappelleRead
Listening to the doves in Alfred, Georgia, and having neither the right nor the permission to enjoy it because in that place mist, doves, sunlight, copper dirt, moon-everything belonged to the men who had the guns. . . . So you protected yourself and loved small. . . . A woman, a child, a brother-a big love like that would split you wide open in Alfred, Georgia. . . . To get to a place where you could love anything you chose-not to need permission for desire-well now, that was freedom
Toni MorrisonRead
Love lets go. Need holds on. This is the way you can tell the difference between need and love. Let go of expectation, let go of requirements and rules and regulations that you would impose on your loved ones.
Neale Donald WalschRead
It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead
In love, you have loosened yourself like seawater
Pablo NerudaRead
Holding this soft, small living creature in my lap this way, though, and seeing how it slept with complete trust in me, I felt a warm rush in my chest. I put my hand on the cat's chest and felt his heart beating. The pulse was faint and fast, but his heart, like mine, was ticking off the time allotted to his small body with all the restless earnestness of my own.
Haruki MurakamiRead