Matthew Torgersen

“There is always a cost to wrongdoing and it must fall on someone. Either the wrongdoer bears it or someone else must. This is true even if the wrong is not something that can be measured financially. The cost may be in reputation or relationship or health or something else. To forgive is to deny oneself revenge (Romans 12:17–21), to absorb the cost, to not exact repayment by inflicting on them the things they did to you in order to “even the score.” Therefore forgiveness is always expensive to the forgiver, but the benefits—at the very least within your heart, and at best in the restoration of relationship and a witness to the power of the gospel—outweigh the cost.”
― Timothy J. Keller, Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I?

“A field is empty, but if you put in the effort to grow something then you will have a garden. And that’s life. Give something, something will come back. Give nothing, nothing will come back. To grow a flower is a miracle: it means you can grow more. Remember that a flower is not just a flower, it is the start of a whole garden.”
― Eddie Jaku, The Happiest Man on Earth

“the ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the other nor of the self, the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another”
― David Whyte, Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words

“Forgiveness is often (or perhaps usually) granted before it’s felt inside. When you forgive somebody, you’re not saying, “All my anger is gone.” What you’re saying when you forgive is “I’m now going to treat you the way God treated me. I remember your sins no more.”
― Timothy J. Keller, Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I?