This examination of forgiveness explores the topic in the widest context, but underpinning it is the belief that religion has given us many of the best stories and metaphors for the act. It is a discourse on how forgiveness works and where it came from, and how it can enrich our humanity, whether or not we have religious beliefs. It draws on philosophers and writers such as George Steiner, Frederick Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Hannah Arendt and Nelson Mandela.