Maxim

Forgive, and keep forgiving.

“The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.”

— Book of Proverbs, Proverbs 19:11 (KJV) · source Verified
Judaism · Ancient (before 200 BCE)
Translation: King James Version (public domain)

Everyone stumbles, and everyone needs pardon at some point. Letting go of a grievance frees the one who forgives as much as the one forgiven.

Related expressions

“Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
— Jesus, Matthew 18:22 (KJV), in answer to Peter asking how often he should forgive
Watch on YouTube: BibleProject: What Forgiveness Means to Jesus ↗BibleProject on forgiveness in Jesus' teaching
Watch on YouTube: Tim Keller: Forgiving and Forgiven ↗Timothy Keller preaches on forgiveness
ChristianityClassical (200 BCE – 600 CE)relation: expressesVerifiedsourceTranslation: King James Version (public domain)
“Let them forgive and show indulgence. Yearn ye not that Allah may forgive you?”
— The Qur'an, Qur'an 24:22 (Sura An-Nur), tr. Marmaduke Pickthall
IslamMedieval (600 – 1500)relation: expressesVerifiedsourceTranslation: Marmaduke Pickthall translation, as given on quran.com
“It is peculiar to man to love even those who do wrong.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VII.22, tr. George Long
StoicismClassical (200 BCE – 600 CE)relation: similarVerifiedsourceTranslation: public-domain translation (George Long)
“To err is human, to forgive, divine.”
— Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711), Part II
Watch on YouTube: The School of Life: How To Forgive ↗The School of Life discusses forgiveness
Watch on YouTube: Johnny Chang with Chris Williamson ↗Johnny Chang discusses forgiveness (Modern Wisdom)
English poetry & literatureEarly modern (1500 – 1800)relation: expressesVerifiedsourceTranslation: public domain
“The one who loves forgives in this way: he forgives, he forgets, he blots out the sin, in love he turns toward the one he forgives.”
— Søren Kierkegaard, Works of Love (1847), tr. Howard V. and Edna H. Hong (Princeton University Press, 1995); checked in the Internet Archive scan of that edition (punctuation corrected to match it: colon after "in this way")
Existentialism / AbsurdismModern (1800 – 1950)relation: similarVerifiedsourceTranslation: tr. Howard V. and Edna H. Hong (copyright; short quotation)

Score

Moral Rank 100.0 · Evidence E = 22.39

E = ln(1+4.60) + √4.60 + 3·3.67 + 1.5·5 = 22.39

How this is scored