--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If we say that monsters [people who do…" description: "\"If we say that monsters [people who do terrible evil] are beyond forgiving, we give them a power they should never have...they are given the power to k..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73a/lewis-b-smedes-4850_alive_if-we-say-that-monsters-people-who-do-te_940482.png" --- # If we say that monsters \[people who do terrible evil\] are… ![“If we say that monsters [people who do terrible evil] are beyond forgiving, we give them a power they should never have...they are given the power to keep their evil alive in the hearts of those who suffered most. We give them power to condemn their victims to live forever with the hurting memory…” quote by Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73a/lewis-b-smedes-4850_alive_if-we-say-that-monsters-people-who-do-te_940482.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73a/lewis-b-smedes-4850_alive_if-we-say-that-monsters-people-who-do-te_940482.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73a/lewis-b-smedes-4850_alive_if-we-say-that-monsters-people-who-do-te_940482.png) > “If we say that monsters \[people who do terrible evil\] are beyond forgiving, we give them a power they should never have...they are given the power to keep their evil alive in the hearts of those who suffered most. We give them power to condemn their victims to live forever with the hurting memory of their painful pasts. We give the monsters the last word.” [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Warns that refusing to forgive gives wrongdoers lasting influence over victims’ emotions and narratives. **In simple terms:** Forgiving prevents monsters from controlling our hearts. Key Takeaway Practice forgiveness to reclaim emotional freedom. Themes forgiveness healing power dynamics memory Mood reflective hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal therapy - conflict resolution - community healing Key Concepts psychology ethics emotional resilience spiritual growth Questions to Reflect On - What does forgiveness mean to you? - How can we let go without condoning wrongdoing? A Different Perspective Forgiveness can be difficult when trauma is severe. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alive/) [Evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil/) [Evil Forgiving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evil-forgiving-1603884/) [Forever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forever/) [Forgiveness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgiveness/) [Forgiving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgiving/) [Forgiving Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgiving-power-1603887/) [Given](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Hurt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hurt/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Last Word](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/last-word/) [Last words](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/last-words/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [Live forever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/live-forever/) [Memories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories/) [Monster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monster/) [Monsters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monsters/) [Monsters People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monsters-people-720907/) [Monsters Word](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monsters-word-1603885/) [Painful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painful/) [Painful past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painful-past/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Say Monsters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/say-monsters-1603886/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Terrible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/terrible/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Victim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/victim/) ## Related quotes > [“I near felt bad he choose to be so evil to me. I am a forgiving woman, but my pen... oh my wicked wicked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coco-j-ginger/i-near-felt-bad-he-choose-to-be-so-evil-to-me-i-am-a-forgiving-woman/) [Coco J. Ginger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coco-j-ginger/) > [“I near felt bad he choose to be so evil. I am a forgiving woman, but my pen... oh my wicked wicked hormonal she-pen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coco-j-ginger/i-near-felt-bad-he-choose-to-be-so-evil-i-am-a-forgiving-woman-but-my/) [Coco J. Ginger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coco-j-ginger/) > [Monsters cannot be announced. One cannot say: 'Here are our monsters,' without immediately turning the monsters into pets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/monsters-cannot-be-announced-one-cannot-say-here-are-our-monsters/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [“They say monsters live under beds. They're wrong because our mind is where monsters truly reside.” —Kathryn Perez”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-perez/they-say-monsters-live-under-beds-they-re-wrong-because-our-mind-is/) [Kathryn Perez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-perez/) > [The problem with people who say monsters don't really exist is that they're almost never saying it to the monsters." —Alice Healy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-problem-with-people-who-say-monsters-don-t-really-exist-is-that/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What did that say about me? Had I become one of the monsters I thought I was fighting? “Things didn’t have to be like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-m-northup/what-did-that-say-about-me-had-i-become-one-of-the-monsters-i-thought/) [J M Northup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-m-northup/) > [If you cannot free people from their wrongs and see them as the needy people they are, you enslave yourself to your own painful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/if-you-cannot-free-people-from-their-wrongs-and-see-them-as-the-needy/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [But someone like Claude Chabrol tries to make a connection between the society in which we live and the social reasons which make monsters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabelle-huppert/but-someone-like-claude-chabrol-tries-to-make-a-connection-between/) [Isabelle Huppert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabelle-huppert/) > [If we continue...to consume the world until there's no more to consume, then there's going to come a day, sure as hell, when our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-quinn/if-we-continue-to-consume-the-world-until-there-s-no-more-to-consume/) [Daniel Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-quinn/) > [“Don't you see? Those monsters you've been so worried about. Not aliens. People. The monsters have always been people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-revis/don-t-you-see-those-monsters-you-ve-been-so-worried-about-not-aliens/) [Beth Revis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-revis/) > [Computer-generated monsters - people shoot them all day with videogames, you know, so kids aren't going to be afraid of that. People are getting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-slade/computer-generated-monsters-people-shoot-them-all-day-with-videogames/) [David Slade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-slade/) > [Monsters are very real. But they're not just creatures. Monsters are everywhere. They're people. They're nightmares...They are the things that we harbor within ourselves.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-robert-cargill/monsters-are-very-real-but-they-re-not-just-creatures-monsters-are/) [C. Robert Cargill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-robert-cargill/) > [I had come to discover that "safe" was an illusion, a pretense that adults wrapped around their children- and sometimes themselves- to make the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-lisle/i-had-come-to-discover-that-safe-was-an-illusion-a-pretense-that/) [Holly Lisle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-lisle/) > [People who are considered scary or odd or even monsters are so often the people that just need love and someone to care for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-o-hara/people-who-are-considered-scary-or-odd-or-even-monsters-are-so-often/) [Catherine O'Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-o-hara/) > [... a less than perfect meddling in the spiritual world can breed monsters for other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/a-less-than-perfect-meddling-in-the-spiritual-world-can-breed/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) ## More by Lewis B. Smedes > [Nothing is more private than a woman's body; it is her physical, emotional, and moral citadel. She cannot be free at all if she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/nothing-is-more-private-than-a-woman-s-body-it-is-her-physical/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [...Forgiving is not having to understand. Understanding may come later, in fragments, an insight here and a glimpse there, after forgiving.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/forgiving-is-not-having-to-understand-understanding-may-come-later-in/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [The God who has the whole world in his hands has grace for the whole world in his heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/the-god-who-has-the-whole-world-in-his-hands-has-grace-for-the-whole/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [Nobody sees reality whole; we all need others to show us the parts of it that they see better than we do. Nobody sees…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/nobody-sees-reality-whole-we-all-need-others-to-show-us-the-parts-of/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [I have discovered that most people who tell me that they cannot forgive a person who wronged them are handicapped by a mistaken understanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/i-have-discovered-that-most-people-who-tell-me-that-they-cannot/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [Spoken forgiveness, no matter how heartfelt, works best when we do not demand the response we want. I mean that when we tell people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/spoken-forgiveness-no-matter-how-heartfelt-works-best-when-we-do-not/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/forgiving-does-not-erase-the-bitter-past-a-healed-memory-is-not-a/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [We feel properly embarrassed when we are caught doing something that makes us look inept, knuckleheaded, or inappropriate. Maybe the difference is this: we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/we-feel-properly-embarrassed-when-we-are-caught-doing-something-that/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/forgiving-does-not-erase-the-bitter-past-a-healed-memory-is-not-a-2/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [When I feel the joy of receiving a gift my heart nudges me to join creation's ballet, the airy dance of giving and receiving,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/when-i-feel-the-joy-of-receiving-a-gift-my-heart-nudges-me-to-join/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [Our sense of fairness tells us that people should pay for the wrong they do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/our-sense-of-fairness-tells-us-that-people-should-pay-for-the-wrong/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [Gratitude is the best feeling I would ever have, the ultimate joy of living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/gratitude-is-the-best-feeling-i-would-ever-have-the-ultimate-joy-of/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [My father was only thirty-one when he died of a heart attack, much too young for a father to die and leave his young…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/my-father-was-only-thirty-one-when-he-died-of-a-heart-attack-much-too/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [The only way to heal the pain which will not heal itself is to forgive the person who hurt you. Forgiveness heals the memory's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/the-only-way-to-heal-the-pain-which-will-not-heal-itself-is-to/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [If you cannot free people from their wrongs and see them as the needy people they are, you enslave yourself to your own painful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/if-you-cannot-free-people-from-their-wrongs-and-see-them-as-the-needy/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) [Explore all 106 Lewis B. Smedes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) ## More Alive quotes > [I understand that it's the music that keeps me alive... That's my lifeblood. And to give that up for, like, the TV, the cars,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/i-understand-that-it-s-the-music-that-keeps-me-alive-that-s-my/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [I feel very grateful to be alive and well enough to make music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-ant/i-feel-very-grateful-to-be-alive-and-well-enough-to-make-music/) [Adam Ant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-ant/) > [I don't crave applause. I'm not one of those guys who comes alive on stage. I'm much more alive at home, I think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bowie/i-don-t-crave-applause-i-m-not-one-of-those-guys-who-comes-alive-on/) [David Bowie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bowie/) > [We must master our egoism, and through this mastery, step outside ourselves and educate ourselves in giving. Fasting requires that we rediscover all that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tariq-ramadan/we-must-master-our-egoism-and-through-this-mastery-step-outside/) [Tariq Ramadan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tariq-ramadan/) > [I can't say that there are 'things' that make me come alive. There are thoughts that make me come alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/i-can-t-say-that-there-are-things-that-make-me-come-alive-there-are/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [We're like the wicked witch. We promise gingerbread, then eat the little brats alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/we-re-like-the-wicked-witch-we-promise-gingerbread-then-eat-the/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [If Jovan Belcher didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-costas/if-jovan-belcher-didn-t-possess-a-gun-he-and-kasandra-perkins-would/) [Bob Costas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-costas/) > [Peace is an ongoing process. It begins with the first step and it does not end. We, all of us alive today, are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-krieger/peace-is-an-ongoing-process-it-begins-with-the-first-step-and-it-does/) [David Krieger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-krieger/) > [I think adoption becomes complicated whenever the biological parents are alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-haven/i-think-adoption-becomes-complicated-whenever-the-biological-parents/) [James Haven](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-haven/) > [The pain of love is the pain of being alive. It is a perpetual wound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-duffy/the-pain-of-love-is-the-pain-of-being-alive-it-is-a-perpetual-wound/) [Maureen Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-duffy/) > [I have tried to resign myself, and to console myself; and that, I hope, I may have done imperfectly; but what I cannot firmly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/i-have-tried-to-resign-myself-and-to-console-myself-and-that-i-hope-i/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [If Melanchthon were alive today, he might not weep because of controversies that surround the Lord's Supper, but he might well sorrow because of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-w-lutzer/if-melanchthon-were-alive-today-he-might-not-weep-because-of/) [Erwin W. Lutzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-w-lutzer/) > [If you’re alive, don’t move, if you’re dead, don’t worry about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/if-you-re-alive-don-t-move-if-you-re-dead-don-t-worry-about-it/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [Here Greek and Roman find themselves alive along these crowded shelves; and Shakespeare treads again his stage, and Chaucer paints anew his age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-greenleaf-whittier/here-greek-and-roman-find-themselves-alive-along-these-crowded/) [John Greenleaf Whittier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-greenleaf-whittier/) > [You're alive!" Fezzik cried. The man in black sat immobile, like a ventriloquist's dummy, just his mouth moving. "That is perhaps the most childishly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-goldman/you-re-alive-fezzik-cried-the-man-in-black-sat-immobile-like-a/) [William Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-goldman/) [Browse all 7,282 Alive quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alive/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If we say that monsters [people who do terrible evil] are beyond forgiving, we give them a power they should never have...they are given the power to keep their evil alive in the hearts of those who suffered most. We give them power to condemn their victims to live forever with the hurting memory of their painful pasts. We give the monsters the last word.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lewis B. 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