“The man who forgets does not forgive, he only loses the remembrance of the harm inflicted on him; forgiveness is the offspring of a feeling of heroism, of a noble heart, of a generous mind, whilst forgetfulness is only the result of a weak memory, or of an easy carelessness, and still oftener of a natural desire for calm and quietness. Hatred, in the course of time, kills the unhappy wretch who delights in nursing it in his bosom.”
Memoirs of J. Casanova de Seingalt (1894)
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Giacomo Casanova55
Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice 1725–1798Related quotes
“Man forgets. God forgives. Man forgets God's Truth. God forgives man's ignorance.”
Sri Chinmoy (1931–2007) Indian writer and guru
Songs of the Soul (1971)
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
Source: 1840s, Works of Love (1847), p. 296
“Forgiveness is too easy. I can forget by indifference, but not forgive. I prefer revenge.”
Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019) German fashion designer
“Surely it is much more generous to forgive and remember, than to forgive and forget.”
Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849) Irish writer
"An Essay on the Noble Science of Self-Justification"; Tales and Novels, vol. 1, p. 213.
Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian psychiatrist
"Personal Conduct" http://books.google.com/books?id=IYOcAQAAQBAJ&q=%22The+stupid+neither+forgive+nor+forget+the+na%C3%AFve+forgive+and+forget+the+wise+forgive+but+do+not+forget%22&pg=PA177#v=onepage, p. 51. http://openlibrary.org/works/OL15151528W/The_Second_Sin <br class="br">The Second Sin (1973)
“Do not feel ashamed to forgive and forget.”
Ali book Nahj al-Balagha
Nahj al-Balagha, Letter 53: An order to Malik Al-Ashtar
Variant: The best deed of a great man is to forgive and forget.