# The "Revenge Is Sweet" Quote **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2001, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303 "2001-09-23T05:32:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mrgriffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@mrgriffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrgriffin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/1 "2001-09-23T05:32:12Z")
Somewhere in the jumble of coverage and commentary the other day, I heard someone - I believe it was rabbi Harold S. Kushner, who wrote “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” - say that “Revenge is sweet” is a corruption of the original counsel. He cited it as something like “The _contemplation_ of revenge is sweet, but the taste is bitter and …” went on to deal with the reality rather than the fantasy. I was in the next room at the time, so only got the general sense of it. So far, I’ve failed to uncover the original quotation from Bartlett’s or the Internet. Is there a Doper out there who can help me? Michael ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/2 "2001-09-23T05:39:08Z")
It was Montgomery Burns, who spoke of Homer J. Simpson, when he uttered the immortal lines “I could crush him like an ant. But it would be too easy. No, revenge is a dish best served cold. I’ll bide my time until… Oh, what the hell. I’ll just crush him like an ant.” It’s not the quote you are looking for, but it’s still a good quote on revenge. ---
**Author:** ![zigaretten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@zigaretten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zigaretten)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/3 "2001-09-23T05:49:47Z")
“Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on itself recoils.” From “Paradise Lost” by Milton, Book 9 (according to Bartlett) ---
**Author:** ![schplebordnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@schplebordnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schplebordnik)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/4 "2001-09-23T07:01:52Z")
But who first said “Revenge is a dish best served cold”? I always thought it was Churchill, but can’t find a cite. Rather keeps repeating it over and over, and makes it sound like he was personally told it by the originator. I’ve always wondered when he’d say he was at Churchill’s deathbed… ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/5 "2001-09-23T07:16:24Z")
No no it was Khan Noonian Singh :::D&R ---
**Author:** ![zigaretten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@zigaretten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zigaretten)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/6 "2001-09-23T07:49:27Z")
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.” –Les Liaisons Dangereuse, Pierre de LaClos ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/7 "2001-09-23T14:02:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*No no it was Khan Noonian Singh > > :::D&R \*\* Revenge is a dish best served cold…and it is very cold in space! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/8 "2001-09-23T16:24:37Z")
Didn’t Khan call it “an ancient Klingon saying” ? ---
**Author:** ![mrgriffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@mrgriffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrgriffin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/9 "2001-09-23T22:57:17Z")
Thanks to everybody for the contributions, and especially thanks to Zigaretten for hitting the mark on both quotes. It happens I was also looking for the “best served cold” source, but thought I was getting somewhere with the number of Klingon references I was finding through the search engines, so I only asked about the “revenge is sweet”. Eternal vigilance is the price of using the web as an information source. [What follows is in the nature of a technical support call: most readers will want to skip out of this message at least, if they haven’t already.] If I could prevail upon you for one more assist, zigaretten? I’ve seldom used my old Bartlett’s for more than browsing, but I assumed the protocol should be fairly straightforward and expected no difficulty finding “revenge is sweet,” which is certainly a familiar enough saying to deserve inclusion. But I found nothing in the index. Armed with your information I was able to find a reference elsewhere that included the line number (Paradise Lost, book 9, line 171), but I couldn’t find the phrase in my own Bartlett’s anywhere under Milton. Am I using a deficient abridged version, or is there some trick to the organization that I haven’t snapped to, or am I managing to look straight at the text and not register it? I realize I’m publicly displaying my incompetence, but in some ways this is a more interesting problem (to me) than the original question. If you (or anyone comparably equipped and inclined) could correct my technique or clarify the issue, I’d very much appreciate it. Specifics: I have in hand “Barlett’s Familiar Quotations”, Fifteenth and 125th Anniversary Edition (one and the same) from Little, Brown, published 1980. Milton occupies pp. 275-289. The index shows 3 entries in that span for “revenge”, all of which I can directly locate and none of which is as well known as the subject quotation. Skimming through the entire Milton section on the chance the book was mis-cited, I find nothing. “Paradise Lost”, Book 9, Line 171 should fall on page 287, between Line 86 (“The serpent subtlest beast of all the field”) and Line 249 (“For solitude sometimes is best society…”), but it doesn’t. Could you please compare your sources and tell me what’s different in the material or my approach? Amid the cataclysm of the last two weeks, I’m finding it somehow very comforting to spend a few minutes worrying over something so relatively trivial. Thanks for your indulgence. ---
**Author:** ![zigaretten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@zigaretten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zigaretten)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/10 "2001-09-23T23:54:42Z")
It would appear that Bartlett both adds and deletes quotes. I used the 11th edition, published by Little, Brown & Co. in 1937. Milton occupies pages 148 through 163 and the quote in question appears on page 154. It is listed as line 171, but lies between lines 44 and 249. This link might prove useful: [http://www.bartleby.com/100/pages/page238.html](http://www.bartleby.com/100/pages/page238.html) An opinion: for really great fun browse through Alexander Pope and Samual Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/11 "2001-09-24T00:11:27Z")
Then there’s the old saw “he who seeks revenge should dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself.” No cite whatsoever; I’ve always thought it one of those emminently debunkable “Chinese wisdom” sayings. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/12 "2001-09-24T01:51:33Z")
“Revenge is a dish best served cold” is from Shakespeare’s “[Hamlet](http://promo.net/cgi-promo/pg/cat.cgi?&label=ID&ftpsite=ftp://sunsite.ualberta.ca/pub/Digital_Collections/Mirror/gutenberg/&alpha=1165).” ---
**Author:** ![schplebordnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@schplebordnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schplebordnik)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/13 "2001-09-24T01:57:09Z")
Shakespeare! I shoulda known. I wonder when the Bard told that line to Dan Rather… ---
**Author:** ![Joaquim\_Matilda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@Joaquim\_Matilda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joaquim_Matilda)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/14 "2001-09-24T01:59:19Z")
Dang! I thought you were trying for “Revenge is sweet, and flavors all our dealings.” from the PIRATES OF PENZANCE. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/15 "2001-09-24T02:15:14Z")
Gotta search my bookcase, but I think it’s in a story by Donna Barr. She has a character saying it in German-giving the impression that it’s an old German saying. As for the Bard, his writing was magnificent. But, even he admitted to lifting from other sources. The actors in Midsummer Night’s Dream perform Pyramus and Thisby. The Bard reworked P and T into Romeo and Juliet. Though his work was far superior to the original, it was not an original work. Hamlet may well say that precisely because it was an old saying the audience would be familiar with. ---
**Author:** ![schplebordnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@schplebordnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schplebordnik)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/16 "2001-09-24T02:17:27Z")
I did a search on a Shakespeare website, and couldn’t find the “revenge is a dish best served cold” quote. The mystery deepens. Maybe Dan Rather originated it… ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/17 "2001-09-24T02:17:55Z")
“Revenge is blood sausage.” ``` Meaning that like blood sausage, revenge is best ``` served cold. Having never eaten blood sausage, I’ll take Barr’s word for it. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/18 "2001-09-24T02:23:27Z")
“But what will not Ambition and Revenge Descend to? who aspires must down as low As high he soard, obnoxious first or last To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on it self recoiles;” Try Milton’s “[Paradise Lost](http://promo.net/cgi-promo/pg/cat.cgi?&label=ID&ftpsite=ftp://sunsite.ualberta.ca/pub/Digital_Collections/Mirror/gutenberg/&alpha=21)” in Book VIII rather than IX. ---
**Author:** ![arara123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@arara123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arara123)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/19 "2001-09-24T02:49:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muffin \* > \*\*“Revenge is a dish best served cold” is from Shakespeare’s “[Hamlet](http://promo.net/cgi-promo/pg/cat.cgi?&label=ID&ftpsite=ftp://sunsite.ualberta.ca/pub/Digital_Collections/Mirror/gutenberg/&alpha=1165).” \*\* So Khan was right; it **IS** an ancient Klingon saying. 😃 (But I couldn’t find it in Hamlet.) ---
**Author:** ![zigaretten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@zigaretten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zigaretten)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303/20 "2001-09-24T03:39:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muffin \* > Try Milton’s “[Paradise Lost](http://promo.net/cgi-promo/pg/cat.cgi?&label=ID&ftpsite=ftp://sunsite.ualberta.ca/pub/Digital_Collections/Mirror/gutenberg/&alpha=21)” in Book VIII rather than IX. \*\* Hmmm…something is rotten in the state of Denmark… Actually, “Paradise Lost” is sometimes published as ten books and sometimes as twelve; so I imagine that both of the above are correct. (It was published both ways in Milton’s lifetime) As for Hamlet…I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-revenge-is-sweet-quote/83303.md?page=2)