quotations about vengeance
Vengeance never sprung any lasting, noble change.
PAM MUSNI
"Dutertesplainin' to do", Philippine Star, May 5, 2016
Vengeance and forgiveness are about reconciling the accounts, but accounting is an ugly description of the tangled ways we're connected. I sometimes think everything comes out even in the end, but an end that arches beyond the horizon, beyond our capacity to perceive or measure, and that in many cases those who trespass against you do so out of a misery that means the punishment preceded and even precipitated the crime. Maybe that's acceptance.
REBECCA SOLNIT
The Faraway Nearby
Is his work vengeance? Or Justice? There is the finest line between the two and when I try to focus on it, it becomes less and less clear.
JODI PICOULT
The Storyteller
Even if I imagine a scheme of vengeance, what could I do better for my object than to let thee live--than to give thee medicines against all harm and peril of life--so that this burning shame may still blaze upon thy bosom?
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
The Scarlet Letter
War always reaches the depths of horror because of idiots who perpetuate terror from generation to generation under the pretext of vengeance.
GUY SAJER
The Forgotten Soldier
Some justice, though did not deal with kindheartedness or good feeling toward others. No, justice had a darker side, a gray area where it mingled alongside vengeance, and only the wise and pure of heart were able to tell the two apart. That kind of justice was swift. It was only called upon after mercy and morals fail. It was the darkest form of goodness known to anyone, even the gods, and required only the strongest, most daring men to bring about.
EVAN MEEKINS
The Black Banner
How did you know that what you sought was redemption and not righteous vengeance?
PETE ABRAMS
Sluggy Freelance, November 22, 2004
Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed, on swallowing, warm and racy: its after-flavour, metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned.
CHARLOTTE BRONTË
Jane Eyre
Am I suggesting that we forgo our vengeance? Never! I'm all about payback.
KURT SCHLICHTER
"Conservatives, Losing One Battle Doesn't Mean We Have Lost The War", Townhall, June 30, 2014
This is a war of vengeance. And wars of vengeance never work. Our leaders are supposed to look beyond that. But nobody is even questioning the idea of the airstrikes.
PHYLLIS BENNIS
"Paris Attacks Prompt Renewed Calls for Tougher ISIS Strategy", NBC News, November 18, 2015
A society built upon a foundation of vengeance is a society doomed to destroy itself.
RICHELLE E. GOODRICH
Smile Anyway
Vengeance never forgets to inflict.
JAMES MEIKLE
Solitude Sweetened; or, Miscellaneous Meditations
Vengeance is one of life's great motivators.
K. S. BROOKS
Lust for Danger
Life can be savored only if you look to the future and leave vengeance to the gods.
DAVID GEMMELL
Fall of Kings
To seek greatness is the only righteous vengeance.
CRISS JAMI
Killosophy
Contrary to private revenge, divine vengeance never has been converted into a legal procedure.
JOHN SCHEID
"The Expiation of Impieties Committed Without Intention", Transformations of the Inner Self in Ancient Religions
It was the sort of anger that comes to a slow boil inside the hearts of good men who want justice, and finding it out of their grasp, decide vengeance is the next best thing.
PATRICK ROTHFUSS
The Wise Man's Fear
And lo! the sword sharp-pointed pierces deep,
E'en to the heart, the sword which Vengeance wields
The lawless deed will not neglected sleep,
When men tread down what fear of high heaven shields.
AESCHYLUS
The Libation Pourers
You say "society must exact vengeance, and society must punish." Wrong on both counts. Vengeance comes from the individual and punishment from God.
VICTOR HUGO
The Last Day of a Condemned Man
To the extent that our conceptions of justice contain recognizable traces of vengeance, they remain half-baked, primitive and immature.
JAMES P. STERBA
Morality and Social Justice