If we can exit a relationship, pressure to reconcile lessens; if we must live with those who have wronged us, we are pushed to reconcile.
Miroslav VolfRead
Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans and myself from the community of sinners.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Forgiveness is hindered when we view others as enemies rather than as fellow humans sharing the same flaws.
This quote by Miroslav Volf highlights the importance of recognizing our shared humanity in the process of forgiveness. When we treat those who hurt us as outsiders, and not just as flawed individuals like ourselves, it becomes difficult to embrace the act of forgiveness, as we create a divide that prevents understanding and empathy from flourishing.
Themes
ForgivenessHumanityUnderstandingEmpathyRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about conflict resolution, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for forgiveness.
More from Miroslav Volf
All quotes βLove properly understood is Godβthe font of all creation and the ultimate goal of all desires; God properly understood is love.
Miroslav VolfRead
If no one remembers a misdeed or names it publically, it remains invisible. To the observer, its victim is not a victim and its perpetrator is not a perpetrator; both are misperceived because the suffering of the one and the violence of the other go unseen. A double injustice occurs-the first when the original deed is done and the second when it disappears.
Miroslav VolfRead
There is no space in which worship should not take place, no time when it should not occur, and no activity through which it should not happen.
Miroslav VolfRead
To affirm that God is God is to want to live in a particular way.
Miroslav VolfRead
Some of the worst violence in the world today between estranged religious and ethnic groups happens not on the battlefields. It happens smack in the middle of living rooms and between people who share a lot, who have a lot in common.
Miroslav VolfRead
Similar quotes
The loneliest you will get is in the most public of arenas: You will go to a place and end up in the smallest compartment possible, because it's a distraction to everybody, and you end up not getting to enjoy it like everyone else.
George ClooneyRead
His dress told her nothing, but his face told her things which she was glad to know.
A. A. MilneRead
Sticks and stones will break our bones, but words will break our hearts.
Robert FulghumRead
I finally know the difference between pleasing and loving, obeying and respecting. It has taken me so many years to be okay with being different, and with being this alive, this intense.
Eve EnslerRead
Many families remain for years in the same place, though both husband and wife are sick of it, simply because there is neither complete division nor agreement between them.
Leo TolstoyRead
We tried so hard. We were always trying to help each other. But not because we were helpless. He needed to get things for me, just as I needed to get things for him. It gave us purpose. Sometimes I would ask him for something that I did not even want, just to let him get it for me. We spent our days trying to help each other help each other. I would get his slippers. He would make my tea. I would turn up the heat so he could turn up the air conditioner so I could turn up the heat.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead