288 FORGET-ME-NOT FORGIVENESS
Etiam oblivisci quod scis interdum expedit.
It is sometimes expedient to forget what you know.
Syrus—Maxims.
And have you been to Borderland?
Its country lies on either hand
Beyond the river I-forget.
One crosses by a single stone
So narrow one must pass alone,
And all about its waters fret—
The laughing river I-forget.
Herman Knickerbocker Viele—Borderland.
Go, forget me—why should sorrow
O'er that brow a shadow fling?
Go, forget me—and to-morrow
Brightly smile and sweetly sing.
Smile—though I shall not be near thee;
Sing—though I shall never hear thee.
Charles Wolfe—Song. Go, Forget Me!
FORGET-ME-NOT
Myosotis
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>The blue and bright-eyed floweret of the brook,
Hope's gentle gem, the sweet Forget-me-not.
Coleridge—The Keepsake.
The sweet forget-me-nots,
That grow for happy lovers.
| author = Tennyson
| work = The Brook. L. 172.
FORGIVENESS
Good, to forgive;
Best to forget.
Robert Browning—La Saisiaz. Prologue.
The fairest action of our human life
Is scorning to revenge an injury;
For who forgives without a further strife,
His adversary's heart to him doth tie:
And 'tis a firmer conquest, truly said,
To win the heart than overthrow the head.
Lady Elizabeth Carew—Chorus from "Maxiam."
Qui pardonne aisement invite a l'offenser.
He who forgives readily only invites offense.
Corneille—Cinna. IV. 4.
We read that we ought to forgive our enemies;
but we do not read that we ought to forgive our
friends.
Attributed to Cosmus, Duke of Florence, by
Bacon. Apothegms. No. 206.
Thou whom avenging pow'rs obey,
Cancel my debt (too great to pay)
Before the sad accounting day.
Wentworth Dillon—On the Day of Judgment. St. 11.
Forgiveness to the injured does belong.
But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong.
Dryden—Conquest of Granada. Pt. II. Act
I. Sc. 2.
| seealso = (See also {{sc|Herbert, Seneca)
She hugged the offender, and forgave the offense,
Sexto the last.
Dryden—Cymon and Iphigenia. L. 367.
His heart was as great as the world, but there
was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.
Emerson—Letters and Social Aims. Greatness.
Bear and forbear.
Epictetus. SeeGELLiuB. Bk. XVII. 6.
The offender never pardons.
| author = Herbert
| work = Jacida Prudentum. No. 563.
yEquum est
Peccatis veniam poscentem reddere rursus.
It is right for him who asks forgiveness for
his offenses to grant it to others.
Horace—Satires. I. 3. 74.
Ex humili magna, ad f astigia rerum
Extollit, quoties voluit fortuna jocari.
Whenever fortune wishes to joke, she lifts
people from what is humble to the highest extremity of affairs.
Juvenal—Satires. ILL 39.
Know all and you will pardon all.
Thomas a Kempis—Imitation of Christ.
| seealso = (See also {{sc|de Staël)
For 'tis sweet to stammer one letter
Of the Eternal's language;—on earth it is called
Forgiveness!
| author = Longfellow
| work = The Children of the Lord's Supper. L. 214.
These evils I deserve, and more
Justly, yet despair not of his final pardon,
Whose ear is ever open, and his eye
Gracious to re-admit the suppliant.
| author = Milton
| work = Samson Agonistes. L. 1,170.
Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,
And ev"n with Paradise devise the snake:
For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man
Is blackened—Man's forgiveness give and take!
Omar Khayyam—Rubaiyat. St. 81. (later ed.)
Stanza an interpolation of FttzGerald's
own.
Forgiveness is better than revenge.
PrrrACUS—Quoted by Heraclitus.
Humanum amare est, humanum autem ignoscere est.
To love is human, it is also human to forgive.
Plautds—Mercator. n. 2. 46.
| seealso = (See also under Error)
| topic =
| page =
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{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Good-nature and good-sense must ever join;
To err is human, to forgive, divine.
| author = Pope
| work = Essay on Criticism. L. 522.
What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow?
Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 43.
