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“If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.”
Voice: Reported speaker · Jesus
This passage does not equate forgiveness with silence about harm: it places honest confrontation and forgiveness in the same sequence when repentance follows.
Source note: Luke 17:3 in the King James Version.
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“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
Love is measured by conduct rather than verbal display, making practical help and truthful action more important than affectionate claims alone.
Source note: 1 John 3:18 in the King James Version, following a contrast between having resources and closing oneself to another person’s need.
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“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”
Error is treated as ordinary human limitation, while forgiveness requires an additional act of generosity.
Source note: An Essay on Criticism, Part II; Pope warns that shallow learning can produce premature confidence before deeper study tempers judgment.
Source identified
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind.”
Love is defined partly through patience and kindness, shifting the idea from emotion alone toward repeated behavior under strain.
Source note: 1 Corinthians 13:4 in the King James Version; this is the opening clause of the verse.
Source identified
“Fear not: for am I in the place of God?”
Voice: Reported speaker · Joseph
Joseph refuses the role of final judge over the brothers who harmed him, creating space for reconciliation after fear and guilt.
Source note: Genesis 50:19 in the King James Version; Joseph answers his brothers after Jacob’s death when they fear retaliation.
Source identified
“Allay the anger of your friend by kindness.”
Kindness can lower the temperature of conflict more effectively than matching a friend’s anger with additional anger.
Source note: The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, maxim 3, in Darius Lyman’s 1856 English rendering; maxim order can vary across editions.