the.com/forgive and forget
Impossible as one phrase — forgiveness is a choice, forgetting is just bad memory.
means To release blame toward someone for a wrong and act as though the memory of it no longer affects you — a tall order bundled into one tidy phrase.
from A pairing of two old Germanic-rooted English verbs — 'forgive' (from Old English forgiefan, 'to give fully, grant, pardon') and 'forget' (Old English forgietan, 'to lose grip of mentally'). The two were yoked together as a set phrase by at least the late medieval period, prized for its alliteration and rhythm rather than its logic — it sounds like a single clean act, but it's really two very different mental tasks wearing one coat.
- neuroscience
- brains cannot voluntarily delete memories on command
- healthier version
- forgive and remember, so you stop repeating mistakes
- origin
- popularized as biblical paraphrase, not an actual verse
- risk
- forgetting harm often just means ignoring the warning signs