“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
"Interview to the Press" in Karachi about the execution of Bhagat Singh (23 March 1931); published in Young India (2 April 1931), reprinted in Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Online Vol. 51. Gandhi begins by making a statement on his failure "to bring about the commutation of the death sentence of Bhagat Singh and his friends." He is asked two questions. First: "Do you not think it impolitic to forgive a government which has been guilty of a thousand murders?" Gandhi replies: "I do not know a single instance where forgiveness has been found so wanting as to be impolitic." In a follow-up question, Gandhi is asked: "But no country has ever shown such forgiveness as India is showing to Britain?" Gandhi replies: "That does not affect my reply. What is true of individuals is true of nations. One cannot forgive too much. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
1930s
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Mahatma Gandhi 238
pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-rul… 1869–1948Related quotes
“Life does not forgive weakness.”
17 February 1945.
Disputed, The Testament of Adolf Hitler (1945)
Variant: Life does not forgive weakness.
Source: Hitler's Letters and Notes
“Forgiveness without justice is capitulation and weakness.”
"Распятие Кирилла на кресте" (In Russian. "Crucifixion of Kirill on the cross") https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2022/03/18/raspiatie-kirilla-na-kreste, Novaya Gazeta, 18 March 2022
“Society often forgives the criminal; it never forgives the dreamer.”
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, P. 251.
“One can forgive but one should never forget.”
Source: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
“God may forgive you, but I never can.”
To the Countess of Nottingham, as quoted in The History of England Under the House of Tudor (1759) by David Hume, Vol. II, Ch. 7.
