Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

Not found in Wilde’s works: the full texts in the sources were searched for ‘forgive your enemies’ and ‘annoys them’. The only ‘Forgive your enemies’ in them is serious, in De Profundis, where Wilde writes that Christ said it ‘not for the sake of the enemy, but for one’s own sake … and because love is more beautiful than hate’. Quote Investigator (2021) found a precursor by the American writer Felix Grendon, ‘I always forgive my enemies; nothing enrages them more’ (The International, November 1911; again in his novel The Love Chase, 1922). The first close match is in The Sketch (London) of 13 April 1949, in a set of precepts for the young by Percy Colson: ‘Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so intensely.’ The same item said Colson was co-writing a book called Oscar Wilde and the Black Douglas, which may explain the mix-up. Reader’s Digest (June 1954) printed the line as Wilde’s, without a source, and Walter Winchell and others repeated it. The Oscar Wilde Society reported that a committee member searched the complete works and did not find it; Wikiquote and Snopes list it as misattributed.

Credited to Wilde in quote books since the 1950s and spread widely online with his photograph. It is in none of his works and first appears, in a slightly different form, half a century after his death, in a list of maxims by the English writer Percy Colson.

Forgiveness as revenge: the forgiven enemy is denied the satisfaction of your anger, and so is more irritated than by any retaliation.

Not Wilde’s. If you want Wilde on forgiveness, De Profundis has the serious version: Christ asks us to forgive our enemies ‘for one’s own sake’, because love is more beautiful than hate.

• A misquotationAlways forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so intensely. Percy Colson’s wording, the earliest close match (The Sketch, 13 April 1949). Where it was seen
• The form on posters and social mediaAlways forgive your enemies — nothing annoys them so much. The Reader’s Digest wording of June 1954, the first credited to Wilde; now on image posts with his portrait. Where it was seen

• Felix Grendon, 1911: ‘I always forgive my enemies; nothing enrages them more.’ (The International, New York, November 1911.) Source

Wisdom

• Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. (not found)
• Golf is a good walk spoiled. (not found) Mark Twain
• I can resist everything except temptation.
• Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive. Elbert Hubbard
• You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. (misattributed) Mae West

• quoteinvestigator.com/2021/06/11/annoy
• en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde (Misattributed)

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” Attributed to Oscar Wilde. No. Percy Colson wrote it, not Wilde. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/always-forgive-your-enemies/ (checked 20 October 2026).

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