has been in the English language at least since the 1846 translation of the 1845 French novel Mathilde by Joseph Marie Eugène Sue: "la vengeance se mange très bien froide", there italicized as if quoting a proverbial saying, and translated "revenge is very good eaten cold". The phrase has been wrongly credited to the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782).

The phrase has also been credited to the Pashtuns of Afghanistan.