Opening the book…
Opening the book…
Explore how different traditions approach the same question, from the oldest texts to the screen and the present day. Connections suggest similarities in meaning, not proven influence. Dates describe broad periods of a tradition, rather than the age of each passage.
“Have you forgiven someone, or been forgiven, in a way that mattered? What was it, and what changed?”
Responding to hurt, taking responsibility, and choosing your boundaries.
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, the Sermon on the Mount, and the parables. Foundational to Western moral language.
“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
“When thou art offended with any man's transgression, presently reflect upon thyself; and consider what thou thyself art guilty of in the same kind. For this if thou shalt call to mind, thou shalt soon forget thine anger;…”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 10.XXX, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
Jesus explains the Parable of the Lost Sheep, teaching that the recovery of what was lost matters more than the safety of what was never in danger.
“Save those who shall repent and believe and do righteous works—for them God will change their evil things into good things, for God is Gracious, Merciful.”
Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads — dialogues on duty, action, and self.
“Moreover, Son of Pandu! wert thou worst Of all wrong-doers, this fair ship of Truth Should bear thee safe and dry across the sea Of thy transgressions.”
Krishna reassures Arjuna that no past wrongdoing is too great to be overcome by devotion to truth.
“To those who avoid great crimes and scandals but commit only lighter faults, verily, thy Lord will be diffuse of mercy. He well knew you when he produced you out of the earth, and when ye were embryos in your mother's wo…”
“If one of evil life turn in his thought / Straightly to Me, count him amidst the good; / He hath the high way chosen; he shall grow / Righteous ere long; he shall attain that peace / Which changes not.”
Krishna teaches that sincere spiritual turning point redeems even the wicked.
“Save those who shall repent and believe and do righteous works—for them God will change their evil things into good things, for God is Gracious, Merciful.”
Tao Te Ching, attributed to Laozi — terse, paradoxical aphorisms on living with the grain of things.
“Bad men it guards, and doth their ill efface. (Its) admirable words can purchase honour; (its) admirable deeds can raise their performer above others. Even men who are not good are not abandoned by it.”
On the universal reach of the Tao — it does not withhold itself even from those who have done wrong.
“He whose evil deeds are covered by good deeds, brightens up this world, like the moon when freed from clouds.”
“To act without (thinking of) acting; to conduct affairs without (feeling the) trouble of them; to taste without discerning any flavour; to consider what is small as great, and a few as many; and to recompense injury with kindness.”
Lao Tzu lists the defining qualities of the Tao's way of operating in the world.
“Is not RECIPROCITY such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
Dhammapada and selected sutras — terse, principle-rich verses on suffering, attachment, and right action.
“For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.”
“love is ever rewarded, either with the reciproque, or with an inward and secret contempt.”
Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Love, 1625 ↗
“He whose evil deeds are covered by good deeds, brightens up this world, like the moon when freed from clouds.”
“And whosoever shall have wrought an atom's weight of good shall behold it, And whosoever shall have wrought an atom's weight of evil shall behold it.”
Analects of Confucius — sayings on conduct, governance, and moral cultivation.
“Po-i and Shu-ch'i did not keep the former wickednesses of men in mind, and hence the resentments directed towards them were few.”
Confucius observes that letting go of others' past wrongs reduces conflict and ill-will.
“Whensoever any man doth trespass against other, presently consider with thyself what it was that he did suppose to be good, what to be evil, when he did trespass. For this when thou knowest, thou wilt pity him, thou wilt…”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.XIX, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
“Things that are done, it is needless to speak about; things that have had their course, it is needless to remonstrate about; things that are past, it is needless to blame.”
Confucius counsels against dwelling on or reproaching what is already finished and cannot be changed.
“That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do, with things present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters.”
Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Revenge, 1625 ↗
Greco-Roman school of practical philosophy on virtue, agency, and acceptance. Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca.
“Can the Gods, who are immortal, for the continuance of so many ages bear without indignation with such and so many sinners, as have ever been, yea not only so, but also take such care for them, that they want nothing; and dost thou so grievously take on, as one that could bear with them no longer; thou that art but for…”
Aurelius rebukes impatience with others' faults by pointing out that the Gods endure human wickedness with perfect patience across all of time.
“Patiently then await the judgment of thy Lord, and be not like him who was in the fish, when in deep distress he cried to God. Had not favour from his Lord reached him, cast forth would he have been on the naked shore, o…”
“meekness is a thing unconquerable, if it be true and natural, and not affected or hypocritical. For how shall even the most fierce and malicious that thou shalt conceive, be able to hold on against thee, if thou shalt still continue meek and loving unto him?”
One of Marcus's nine counsels on anger: genuine gentleness disarms hostility in a way that force cannot.
“Nothing annihilates an inhibition as irresistibly as anger does it; for, as Moltke says of war, destruction pure and simple is its essence. This is what makes it so invaluable an ally of every other passion. The sweetest…”
Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) — concise principles for living, distilled from the early rabbinic period.
“More precious is one hour in repentance and good deeds in this world, than all the life of the world to come; And more precious is one hour of the tranquility of the world to come, than all the life of this world.”
“And good works which abide, are in thy Lord's sight better in respect of guerdon, and better in the issue than all worldly good.”
“Let the honor of your friend be as dear to you as your own; And be not easily provoked to anger; And repent one day before your death.”
Rabbi Eliezer offers three guiding principles for how to treat others and oneself.
Central scripture of Islam. Ethical teachings, parables, and prophetic narratives.
“Surely however will I forgive him who turneth to God and believeth, and worketh righteousness, and then yieldeth to guidance.”
God addresses the children of Israel after warning them against excess.
“Save he who having done amiss shall afterwards exchange the evil for good; for I am Forgiving, Merciful.”
God speaks to Moses, reassuring him that even those who have sinned can be forgiven if they turn toward good.
Montaigne and Bacon turning the essay into a way of thinking in public — sceptical, personal, unwilling to settle a question it has not tested.
“Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon.”
“In causes of life and death, judges ought (as far as the law permitteth) in justice to remember mercy; and to cast a severe eye upon the example, but a merciful eye upon the person.”
“By observing all the rules of jurisprudence, supposing them ever so perfect, we should deserve nothing but to be free from external punishment. By observing those of casuistry, supposing them such as they ought to be, we…”
Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Section II, 1759 ↗
Hume, Smith, Kant and Wollstonecraft asking what we owe each other once reason, rather than revelation, is asked to supply the answer.
“If I, he may thus argue, who exercise my own mind, and have been refined by tribulation, find the serpent's egg in some fold of my heart, and crush it with difficulty, shall not I pity those who are stamped with less vigour, or who have heedlessly nurtured the insidious reptile till it poisoned the vital stream it suck…”
Wollstonecraft describes the moral insight that arises from honest self-examination: awareness of one's own hidden faults naturally produces compassion for others.
“Later on, when the young soul, tortured by continual disillusions, finally turns suspiciously against itself--still ardent and savage even in its suspicion and remorse of conscience: how it upbraids itself, how impatient…”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 31, tr. Helen Zimmern, 1907 ↗
“if by some extraordinary misfortune you are fallen into poverty, into diseases, into disgrace and disappointment; even though your own fault may have been, in part, the occasion, yet you may generally depend upon the sincerest sympathy of all your friends, and, as far as interest and honour will permit, upon their kind…”
Smith contrasts deep misfortune, which draws genuine sympathy, with minor setbacks, which invite raillery.
“There are few ways by which you can make more certain of putting people into a good humor than by telling them of some trouble that has recently befallen you, or by unreservedly disclosing some personal weakness of yours…”
Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section 33, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
Mill, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, each pressing on what an individual owes to the crowd, to suffering, and to their own honesty.
“Blessed are the forgetful: for they 'get the better' even of their blunders.”
Nietzsche warns against those who pride themselves on moral tact, noting they never forgive a witnessed mistake; he then offers this ironic counter-maxim.
“Politeness is a tacit agreement that people's miserable defects, whether moral or intellectual, shall on either side be ignored and not made the subject of reproach; and since these defects are thus rendered somewhat less obtrusive, the result is mutually advantageous.”
James, Du Bois, Vivekananda and Tagore — psychology, pragmatism and the first modern accounts of living inside more than one world at once.
“It is true, Simha, that I denounce activities, but only the activities that lead to the evil in words, thoughts, or deeds. It is true, Simha, that I preach extinction, but only the extinction of pride, lust, evil thought, and ignorance, not that of forgiveness, love, charity, and truth.”
Tagore quotes the Buddha clarifying that renunciation targets the destructive aspects of self, not virtue.
“indulgence where our own claims only are concerned, but firmness in our demands where they relate to duties towards others or towards the public.”
James quotes a rule from the Union pour l'Action morale distinguishing between tolerance of wrongs done to oneself and firmness in upholding duties to others.
The century in which the question was most often put to a wide audience by film. Each line belongs to a larger story, and is quoted with its character, film, and writing credits where available.
“If might is right, then love has no place in the world.”
When Mendoza takes up arms to defend the mission, Gabriel refuses a world in which force decides what is right.
Written by Robert Bolt.
“Deserve's got nothing to do with it.”
When the wounded sheriff protests that he doesn't deserve to die like this, a killer disposes of the idea that deserving has anything to do with who dies.
Written by David Webb Peoples.
“You are a son of God, Matthew Poncelet.”
A nun accompanying a murderer to his execution insists on a category for him that the room around her has withdrawn.
Written by Tim Robbins.
“It's not your fault.”
A therapist says the same short sentence until it stops being information and starts being something his patient can accept.
Written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
“The thing that haunts a man the most is what he isn't ordered to do.”
A veteran tells a boy who wants revenge that what haunts him is not the killing he was ordered to do in Korea, but the killing he chose.
Written by Nick Schenk.
“Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear.”
Mandela asks his security chief to work with men who once served the government that imprisoned them.
Written by Anthony Peckham.
The same question, answered by people who are still working it out.
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