This article deals with forgetting as an ethical act and a moral obligation. When, how, and why is forgetting a human capability, and what are its consequences? Who has the right to forgive? Can we speak of a “duty to forget” in the same way as we speak of a “duty to remember”? Is forgetting a savoir-faire? These are some of the questions that this article will explore, mainly through the writings of the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. In addition to an Introduction and an Epilogue, the article consists of three parts. The first entitled “A Hermeneutics of the Self: Human as Both Fallible and Capable”, introduces one of the most banal human experiences, that of forgetting, and its place in Ricoeur’s hermeneutical anthropology. The second, “The Memory of a Past and the Promise of a Future”, analyses the relationship between memory and promise, their temporal dimension, and their different characteristics. The third part, “The Will to Forget”, is an epistemological study of forgetting. Is forgetting merely the nemesis of memory, or is this human condition something more? An Epilogue: “The Joy of Forgetting”, examines the dialectics of forgetting and forgiveness, and celebrates forgetting as a virtue, as eudaimonia. Like the prince in the “Hymn of the Pearl” who awoke to realise, forgetting can lead us to recognise our true selves.