To err is human, to forgive divine

Meaning: Making mistakes is natural; forgiving them is noble.

Who said it? Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 1711

Origin: From Alexander Pope's poem An Essay on Criticism (1711): "To err is human, to forgive, divine." Pope was writing about critics, urging them to be generous with writers' mistakes. The first half echoes the old Latin saying errare humanum est.

Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Italian, and 3 more languages

French: L'erreur est humaine, le pardon est divin (literally: Error is human, forgiveness is divine)
Spanish: Errar es humano, perdonar es divino (literally: To err is human, to forgive is divine)
Japanese: 過ちは人の常、許すは神の心 (Ayamachi wa hito no tsune, yurusu wa kami no kokoro) (literally: Mistakes are human nature, forgiveness is the heart of God)
German: Irren ist menschlich, vergeben göttlich (literally: To err is human, to forgive divine)
Italian: Errare è umano (literally: To err is human)
Portuguese: Errar é humano (literally: To err is human)
Polish: Mylić się jest rzeczą ludzką (literally: Erring is a human thing)
Chinese: 人非圣贤，孰能无过 (Rén fēi shèngxián, shú néng wú guò) (literally: People aren't sages; who can be without fault?)