<P> The motto of the Order of the Thistle is Nemo me impune lacessit, Latin for "Nobody shall provoke / injure me with impunity". The origin of the motto reflects the feudal clan system of ancient Scotland, particularly the Highlands . </P> <P> The goal of some legal systems is limited to "just" revenge--in the fashion of the contrapasso punishments awaiting those consigned to Dante's Inferno, some have attempted to turn the crime against the criminal, in clever and often gruesome ways . </P> <P> The popular expression "revenge is a dish best served cold" suggests that revenge is more satisfying if enacted when unexpected or long feared, inverting traditional civilized revulsion toward "cold - blooded" violence . </P> <P> The idea's origin is obscure . The French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand - Périgord (1754--1838) has been credited with the saying, "La vengeance est un met que l'on doit manger froid" ("Revenge is a dish that must be eaten cold"), albeit without supporting detail . It 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". It has been wrongly credited to the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782). </P>

Who said revenge is a dish best served cold