Lewis B. Smedes Quotes

A Wise Judge May Let Mercy Temper Justice But May Not Let Mercy Undo It.

Our History Is An Inevitable Component Of Our Being. One Thing Only Can Release Us From The Grip Of Our History. That One Thing Is Forgiveness.

Can You Stop Your Memory On A Dime, Put It In Reverse, And Spin It In Another Direction The Way You Can Reverse Direction On A Tape Recorder? We Cannot Forget On Command. So We Just Have To Let The Forgetting Happen As It Will; We Shouldn't Rush It, And We Certainly Should Not Doubt The Genuineness Of Our Forgiving If We Happen To Remember. The Really Important Thing Is That We Have The Power To Forgive What We Still Do Remember.

I Am Certain That People Never Forgive Because They Believe They Have An Obligation To Do It Or Because Someone Told Them To Do It. Forgiveness Has To Come From Inside As A Desire Of The Heart. Wanting To Is The Steam That Pushes The Forgiving Engine.

I Have Discovered That Most People Who Tell Me That They Cannot Forgive A Person Who Wronged Them Are Handicapped By A Mistaken Understanding Of What Forgiving Is.

The Secret Of Grace Is That It Can Be All Right At The Center Even When It Is All Wrong On The Edges.

Gandhi Was Right: If We All Live By 'an Eye For An Eye' The Whole World Will Be Blind. The Only Way Out Is Forgiveness.

We Forgive Freely Or We Do Not Really Forgive At All.

Forgiveness Is The Key That Can Unshackle Us From A Past That Will Not Rest In The Grave Of Things Over And Done With. As Long As Our Minds Are Captive To The Memory Of Having Been Wronged, They Are Not Free To Wish For Reconciliation With The One Who Wronged Us.

The Only Way To Heal The Pain Which Will Not Heal Itself Is To Forgive The Person Who Hurt You. Forgiveness Heals The Memory's Vision. ... You Set A Prisoner Free, But You Discover The Real Prisoner Was Yourself.

Any Moment That Opens Us Up To The Reality That Life Is Good Is A Parable Of The Supreme End For Which We Were Made.

Because Arrogance Is Born In Personal Vanity, Arrogant People Are Driven Without Mercy. They Can Never Get Enough Power To Fill The Soul's Needs Or Enough Respect To Overcome The Fear That They Deserve Less Than They Are Getting.