"The first to apologize is the bravest.  The first to forgive is the strongest.  The first to forget is the happiest."

as published in Guideposts magazine, May 2014, p. 15 volume 69, issue 3, submitted by reader Melanie Samoy-Lutz

Jeffrey R. Holland

Whoever you are and whatever you have done, you can be forgiven. Every one of you young men can leave behind any transgression with which you may struggle. It is the miracle of forgiveness; it is the miracle of the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you cannot do it without an active commitment to the gospel, and you cannot do it without repentance where it is needed.

Jeffrey R. Holland, General Conference, October 2011, Priesthood Session

Rebecca Gwyn Stradling

In reaching for the promises we have been given we must look beyond weaknesses, sins, and fears, believing that all is possible through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and that our honest efforts will bear fruit. It is necessary to separate the sin from the self. We must hope even as we fail, and repent—and then strive not to fail again. … Hope grows out of our faith that we are the sons and daughters of God and that we can be like him. What great expectations that hope will build in us! What motivation and power it will give us to do the things we know are right. As Paul said, “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.’Hope gives us the ability to expect that, when we see as we are seen and know as we are known, what we are will be good. Hope of this eventual perfection gives us strength to repent of small and serious weaknesses alike. … Only by hope founded in faith in Jesus Christ can we develop the capacity to love.” 

Rebecca Gwynn Stradling, “Between Faith and Charity: Some Thoughts on Hope,” Ensign, Jul 1981, 27

Harold B. Lee

The greatest demonstration of the power of the Almighty we see today is the redemption of human souls from spiritual darkness into spiritual light.

Elder Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, April 1965