50 Grudges Quotes to Help you Forgive Others

By Norbert Juma

Master quote curator and editor on a mission to inspire

Published December 26, 2022

If you are searching for some of the best grudges quotes that can teach you something positive, you’re at the right place.

Do you ever feel like the past won’t let you go?

Is your life is still impacted by what someone else did to you years ago?

If so, you’re not the only one.

This is a common thing, and it is known as holding grudges.

When you hold grudges, you allow the person who hurt you to control your life longer than expected.

Holding grudges only creates more negativity in our lives and keep us from moving forward.

A wise human should always think positively and move forward.

This article will talk about some of the most inspiring quotes about holding grudges as well as the emotional state of holding grudges.

Before going forward, let’s first understand why keeping grudges is bad and why you should avoid them.

Why you should avoid holding grudges?

Why do we hold grudges? The answer is simple: because it feels good.

It feels good:

to be righteously angry
to have our victimhood confirmed
to believe that the other person is entirely at fault
and to brood on past hurts and resentments and to consider ourselves the injured party

But holding a grudge is also profoundly immature.

It’s an indication that we haven’t yet acquired the emotional intelligence necessary to resolve conflicts amicably.

To avoid harboring resentment, we must do something that can seem quite challenging: let go of our connection to being right and consider the other person’s viewpoint.

When we can do this, we open the possibility of resolving the conflict in a mutually satisfying way.

We also free ourselves from the toxicity of unresolved anger and resentment.

So next time you find yourself holding a grudge, ask yourself: is it really worth it?

Now let’s find out what the following quotes want to teach us.

Top 10 grudges quotes

Here is the top 10 list of grudges quotes by well-known authors and influencers.

1. “Grudges are often worse enemies than pain.” — Erin Forbes

2. “I’m not holding a grudge. I just don’t like you.” — Brian Spellman

3. “A life lived without forgiveness is a prison.” — William Arthur Ward

4. “Holding grudges only exacerbates the situation.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

5. “Holding grudges or resentments stops energy from flowing.” ― Nelson Mandela

6. “Resentment and holding grudges are impediments to growth.” ― Donna Kendall

7. “Holding on to grudges holds you back from achieving success.” — Debasish Mridha

8. “Holding grudges is like growing a garden of thorns in your heart.” — Thandazo Perfect Khumalo

9. “Holding grudges serves no productive purpose. It eats at us like mental cancer.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

10. “People who are very prompt at holding grudges are often very slow in giving others justice.” ― Harold E. Will

Grudges quotes that emphasize forgiveness

Letting go of grudges helps you heal and find peace of mind. These grudges quotes will inspire you to let go and forgive people who did wrong to you and forget all the unpleasant things that happened in the past.

11. “I don’t like to hold grudges, I don’t like to talk ill of people.” — Jay Sean

12. “A grudge is like a cesspool; forgiveness is like a flowing river.” — Chris Northrup

13. “In ceremonies of the horsemen, even the pawn must hold a grudge.” — Bob Dylan

14. “Don’t carry a grudge. While you’re carrying the grudge the other guy’s out dancing.” ― Lamees Alhassar

15. “The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world.” — Marianne Williamson

16. “Don’t hold a grudge. It takes up room in your heart; it takes up time in your life; it takes up space in your mind.” ― Charlotte Bronte

17. “I learned a long time ago that you need to bury the hatchet. No need to hold grudges. That only weighs you down.” ― Ken Shamrock

18. “The worst grudge is being told that you are forgiven, yet your sins are still glowing in their hearts like a burning coal.” — Michael Bassey Johnson

19. “Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something; forgiveness, however, is for those who are substantial enough to move on.” — Criss Jami

20. “Grudge no expense – yield to no opposition – forget fatigue – till, by the strength of prayer and sacrifice, the spirit of love shall have overcome.” — Maria Weston Chapman

Grudges quotes to let go of hurt and anger

Some grudges quotes are easy to understand and beautiful. A few such grudge quotes are listed below.

21. “I bear no grudges. I have a mind that retains nothing.” — Bette Midler

22. “A pure soul actually carries nothing. No hatred, no hate.” — Ghana Sodha

23. “Do not bear grudges. A heart full of grudges can never be fulfilled.” — Gift Gugu Mona

24. “Rage can be a very dangerous thing to the harbor in one’s heart.” — Lamees Alhassar

25. “If you withhold love as a form of punishment, who is being punished?” — Donald L. Hicks

26. “I don’t hold on grudges, you know. They’re like expired milk in the fridge.” — Karen White

27. “Stop holding grudges, and forgiving is essential for moving toward your greatness.” — Sherrie Flowers

28. “Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.” — Charlotte Bronte

29. “The grudge you hold on to is like a hot coal that you intend to throw at someone, only you’re the one who gets burned.” — Gautama Buddha

30. “Resentment or grudges do no harm to the person against whom you hold these feelings but every day and every night of your life, they are eating at you.” — Norman Vincent Peale

Grudges quotes on managing negative emotions

Don’t let the negativity surround your mental health. Here is a list of some beneficial quotes to inspire and make you feel positive.

31. “Grudges seldom hurt anyone except the one bearing them.” ― Anne Lamott

32. “To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.” — Confucius

33. “Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.” — Anne Lamott

34. “Holding grudges do nobody good. Speak your anger or let your anger go.” ― Sarvesh Jain

35. “Grudges are like hand grenades: it is wise to release them before they destroy you.” — Criss Jami

36. “Hold no grudges and practice forgiveness. This is the key to having peace in all your relationships.” — Wayne Dyer

37. “When you hold a grudge, you want someone else’s sorrow to reflect your level of hurt, but the two rarely meet.” — Steve Maraboli

38. “They say it’s good to let your grudges go, but I don’t know, I’m quite fond of my grudge. I tend to it like a little pet.” — Liane Moriarty

39. “When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following: Stop it!” — Dieter F. Uchtdorf

40. “Let today be the day you stop being haunted by the ghost of yesterday. Holding a grudge and harboring anger/resentment is poison to the soul. Get even with people…but not those who have hurt us. Forget them. Instead, get even with those who have helped us.” — Steve Maraboli

Other grudges quotes to spread positivity

A wise human should always think of moving forward, let’s find out what the following quotes want to teach us:

41. “Holding a grudge will only destroy yourself. To forgive will cleanse it.” — Mark McCallister

42. “Never hold a grudge within your heart and mind. It will only destroy you.” — Raymond Wells

43. “Holding grudges is like a tree holding onto its leaves in the fall. Better just let go.” — Richard S. Conde

44. “Holding a grudge doesn’t make you strong: it makes you bitter. Forgiving doesn’t make you weak; it sets you free.” — Dave Willis

45. “Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness. Laugh when you can. Apologize when you should and let go of what you can’t change.” — George Carlin

46. “You may think that holding grudges is protecting you from being hurt again, but it’s really freezing your feelings in a very destructive state.” ― Confucius

47. “He who holds grudges against other people or hatred in his heart will never be truly happy until he has forgiven and let go of that anger by the best possible means.” — John Lennon

48. “We often hold a grudge because we don’t want to let the other person off the hook. But who’s really hooked: the one who’s moved on or the one who’s holding on?” — Lori Deschene

49. “Resentment and grudges are things we dare not collect in our spirits, for they will spoil and rot, producing poison that will contaminate our words as well as our actions.” ― J.K. Rowling

50. “Holding grudges, having animosity, or harboring bad feelings towards someone else will keep you anchored to your past, and prevent you from attaining all of the success that awaits you in your future.” — Lionel L. Nowell