People count up the faults of those who keep them waiting.

This saying is commonly presented in English as a “French proverb,” reflecting a long tradition of French maxims about politeness, punctuality, and social etiquette. Rather than stemming from a single identifiable author or moment, it belongs to the genre of proverbial wisdom circulated in conversation and later gathered in collections of French sayings and etiquette-minded aphorisms. The implied setting is everyday social life—appointments, visits, or meetings—where one party’s lateness creates an asymmetry of power and attention. The proverb captures the social psychology of waiting: the longer the delay, the more the waiting person’s irritation seeks an outlet, often by mentally rehearsing the offender’s shortcomings.

The proverb observes that waiting is rarely neutral: when someone is kept waiting, irritation seeks an object, and the mind begins to inventory the other person’s shortcomings. The delay becomes evidence that confirms or even manufactures a negative character portrait—selfish, unreliable, inconsiderate. Its practical implication is that punctuality protects reputation: lateness doesn’t just waste minutes, it invites moral evaluation. More broadly, it comments on how resentment works: a single frustration can trigger a cascade of remembered faults, turning a minor inconvenience into a comprehensive indictment.

Those who are kept waiting count the faults of those who keep them waiting.
People count the faults of those who keep them waiting.
When you keep people waiting, they count your faults.