“I have always disbelieved that Sicilian saying about revenge being a dish best served cold. I feel that--don't you?--when I see blinking, quivering octogenarian Nazi war criminals being led away in chains. Why not then? It's too late now. I want to see them taken back in time and punished then… Blame, certainly, is a dish only edible when served fresh and warm. Old blames, grudges and scores congeal and curdle and cause the most terrible indigestion.”

—  Stephen Fry

1990s, Moab is My Washpot (autobiography, 1997)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 28, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I have always disbelieved that Sicilian saying about revenge being a dish best served cold. I feel that--don't you?--wh…" by Stephen Fry?
Stephen Fry photo
Stephen Fry 93
English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist 1957

Related quotes

Mario Puzo photo

“Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold.”

Variant: Revenge is a dish which taste best when served cold.
Source: The Godfather

Mindy Kaling photo
Sophie Kinsella photo

“Revenge is a dish best served unexpectedly and from a distance - like a thrown trifle.”

Frances Hardinge (1973) British children's writer

Source: Twilight Robbery

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos photo

“Revenge is a dish best eaten cold.”

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1741–1803) French novelist, official and army general

La vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid.
Commonly said to be from Les liaisons dangereuses, but not found there.
Misattributed

Lionel Richie photo

“You are more than now;
You are for always.
I can see in you
My dreams come true.
Don't you ever go away.

You make me feel like
There's nothing I can't do.
And when I hold you,
I only want to say
I love you.”

Lionel Richie (1949) American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and actor

Ballerina Girl.
Song lyrics, Dancing on the Ceiling (1986)

Lizabeth Scott photo

“When you say ambition to me, that's when you get me started! My greatest ambition is to be the whoppingest best actress in Hollywood. You can't blame a girl for trying! I don't want to be classed as a "personality," something to stare at. I want to have my talents respected, not only by the public but by myself.”

Lizabeth Scott (1922–2015) American actress and singer

McFadden, Robert D. (February 6, 2015). " Lizabeth Scott, Film Noir Siren, Dies at 92 https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/movies/lizabeth-scott-film-noir-siren-dies-at-92.html". The New York Times.

Walter Model photo

“I sincerely believe that I have served a criminal. I led my soldiers in good conscience… but for a criminal government.”

Walter Model (1891–1945) German field marshal

To Colonel Theodor Pilling, Lieutenant Colonel Roger Michael, Major Winrich Behr in the evening of April 20, 1945. They tuned in the Wehrmacht receiver, and listened Joseph Goebbels's speech marking the Hitler's Birthday. Quoted in "Battle for the Ruhr" - Page 378 - by Derek S. Zumbro - 2006

Tim O'Brien photo
G. K. Chesterton photo

“If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist

Source: The Thing (1929), Ch. IV : The Drift From Domesticity
Context: In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it."
This paradox rests on the most elementary common sense. The gate or fence did not grow there. It was not set up by somnambulists who built it in their sleep. It is highly improbable that it was put there by escaped lunatics who were for some reason loose in the street. Some person had some reason for thinking it would be a good thing for somebody. And until we know what the reason was, we really cannot judge whether the reason was reasonable. It is extremely probable that we have overlooked some whole aspect of the question, if something set up by human beings like ourselves seems to be entirely meaningless and mysterious. There are reformers who get over this difficulty by assuming that all their fathers were fools; but if that be so, we can only say that folly appears to be a hereditary disease. But the truth is that nobody has any business to destroy a social institution until he has really seen it as an historical institution. If he knows how it arose, and what purposes it was supposed to serve, he may really be able to say that they were bad purposes, or that they have since become bad purposes, or that they are purposes which are no longer served. But if he simply stares at the thing as a senseless monstrosity that has somehow sprung up in his path, it is he and not the traditionalist who is suffering from an illusion.

Related topics