revenge is a dish best served cold
revenge is a dish best served cold proverb: revenge should not be rushed, because it must be calculated coolly or because it is most satisfying when delayed.
Proverb
revenge is a dish best served cold
- Revenge should not be rushed, because it must be calculated coolly or because it is most satisfying when delayed.
- He was no coward, but it had suddenly struck him that the present was a very ill-chosen time for a row with his younger relative, however successful might be the issue. Such violence should not go unpunished, but vengeance is a dish that can be eaten cold.1892, James Payn, A Modern Dick Whittington; or, A Patron of Letters, volume 1, page 222
- Time had brought me revenge on Lionel, and as the Italian proverb says, revenge is a dish which people of taste prefer to eat cold.1949, Robert Hamer, John Dighton, Kind Hearts and Coronets, spoken by Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price)
Origin of revenge is a dish best served cold
The earliest known metaphorical reference to revenge as food in English is “And then revenge is very good eaten cold, as the vulgar say”, from an 1846 translation of Eugène Sue's Mathilde: Mémoires d'une Jeune Femme. The passage suggests that it was an existing expression. Similar proverbs are known as early as the 17th century with “Reuenge is not good in cold bloud” in a translation of Don Quixote. The phrase exists in various Romance languages: Italian la vendetta è un piatto che va servito freddo, Spanish la venganza es un plato que se sirve frío, French la vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid. In French, it is commonly used since at least the 19th century. In English, many variations are attested but the exact phrase revenge is a dish best served cold may originate from the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Questions about revenge is a dish best served cold
- What does revenge is a dish best served cold mean?
- Revenge is a dish best served cold means revenge should not be rushed, because it must be calculated coolly or because it is most satisfying when delayed.
- What part of speech is revenge is a dish best served cold?
- Revenge is a dish best served cold is a proverb.
Words near revenge is a dish best served cold in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: revenge is a dish best served cold (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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