Quotes about revenge

A collection of quotes on the topic of revenge, doing, people, man.

Best quotes about revenge

“Retaliation gets you nothing. Revenge is worthless.”

Tom Hiddleston (1981) English actor, producer and musical performer

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Attributed in Lillet Walters (2000), Secrets of Superstar Speakers; attributed in English sources as a "Japanese proverb" as early as 1924
Misattributed, Not Chinese

“There are plenty of people more «difficult» than me. ”

Alan Rickman (1946–2016) English film, television and stage actor

“To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

“In politics evils should be remedied not revenged.”

Napoleon III (1808–1873) French emperor, president, and member of the House of Bonaparte

Napoléon III, Des Idées napoléoniennes, edited by Henri Colburn, London (1839), chapter 3, p. 39: En politique il faut guérir les maux, jamais les venger.
Translated by James A. Dorr, in: Napoleonic Ideas, Appleton & Co, New York (1859), p. 41

“The greatest revenge is massive success.”

Les Brown (1945) American politician

“Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian

No. 14.
Seventy Resolutions (1722-1723)

“Forgiveness is better than revenge.”

Pittacus of Mytilene Greek sage

As quoted by Diogenes Laërtius in Life of Pittacus, i. 76, citing Heraclitus as his source.
Pittacus made this remark to justify his release of his captured enemy Alcaeus.
According to William Shepard Walsh, in Handy-book of Literary Curiosities (1892), p. 392, Epictetus, quoting from the same source, gives the phrase thus: "Forgiveness is better than punishment; for the one is proof of a gentle, the other of a savage, nature."

“Make Europe your revenge.”

Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) German statesman, Federal Chancellor of Germany, politician (CDU)

To French PM Guy Mollet after British PM Sir Anthony Eden unilaterally cancelled the Suez operation, thus angering Mollet. (6 November 1956), as quoted in Europe's Troubled Peace, 1945-2000 (2006) by Tom Buchanan, p.102, 2nd ed. 2012 p. 84 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=cAHcBeZhm6UC&pg=PA84&dq=revenge

“Indifference is the revenge the world takes on mediocrities.”

Oscar Wilde Vera; or, The Nihilists

Vera; or, The Nihilists (1880)

Quotes about revenge

“Wake up in the morning, now you doing the impossible Find out what's important, now you're feeling philosophical When I die, I'll pack my bags, move somewhere more affordable Isn't life horrible? I think that life is horrible”

Lil Peep (1996–2017) American rapper

Song Life is Beautiful, Album: Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2

Life, Feeling, Thinking

“Let it go, you've got to forget about revenge. Believe me, in this work I've met a lot of guys who feel the way you do. Trust me, for those who follow the path of revenge, it never ends well. You'll only tear yourself apart and even if you succeed with your revenge, what would you have then... nothing, emptiness.”

Hatake Kakashi book Naruto

To Sasuke

Forgetting, Feeling, Way, Guy

“The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VI, 6
Variant: The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VI

“I ain't a killer, but don't push me
Revenge is like the sweetest joy next to gettin' pussy.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

"Hail Mary"
1990s, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)

Joy

“Forgiveness is too easy. I can forget by indifference, but not forgive. I prefer revenge.”

Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019) German fashion designer

Forgiveness, Indifference, Forgetting

“Endurance is composed of four attributes: eagerness, fear, piety and anticipation (of death). so whoever is eager for Paradise will ignore temptations; whoever fears the fire of Hell will abstain from sins; whoever practices piety will easily bear the difficulties of life and whoever anticipates death will hasten towards good deeds.
Conviction has also four aspects to guard oneself against infatuations of sin; to search for explanation of truth through knowledge; to gain lessons from instructive things and to follow the precedent of the past people, because whoever wants to guard himself against vices and sins will have to search for the true causes of infatuation and the true ways of combating them out and to find those true ways one has to search them with the help of knowledge, whoever gets fully acquainted with various branches of knowledge will take lessons from life and whoever tries to take lessons from life is actually engaged in the study of the causes of rise and fall of previous civilizations.
Justice also has four aspects depth of understanding, profoundness of knowledge, fairness of judgment and dearness of mind; because whoever tries his best to understand a problem will have to study it, whoever has the practice of studying the subject he is to deal with, will develop a clear mind and will always come to correct decisions, whoever tries to achieve all this will have to develop ample patience and forbearance and whoever does this has done justice to the cause of religion and has led a life of good repute and fame.
Jihad is divided into four branches: to persuade people to be obedient to Allah; to prohibit them from sin and vice; to struggle (in the cause of Allah) sincerely and firmly on all occasions and to detest the vicious. Whoever persuades people to obey the orders of Allah provides strength to the believers; whoever dissuades them from vices and sins humiliates the unbelievers; whoever struggles on all occasions discharges all his obligations and whoever detests the vicious only for the sake of Allah, then Allah will take revenge on his enemies and will be pleased with Him on the Day of Judgment.”

Ali book Nahj al-Balagha

Nahj al-Balagha

Life, Death, People, Truth

“Revenge is not worthy of you. If you concentrate on revenge, you will keep those wounds fresh that would otherwise have healed.”

Adeline Yen Mah book Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society

Source: Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society

“There are four basic human needs: food, sleep, sex and revenge.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Existencilism (2002)

Food, Sex, Sleep

“We will never forget. If it takes us five or ten or twenty years, we will never rest until we get our revenge.”

Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) German statesman, Federal Chancellor of Germany, politician (CDU)

As quoted by General Sir Charles Fergusson in a memorandum (10 July 1945), recalling conversations with Adenauer in 1918-1919, at the end of World War I. As published in Adenauer : The Father of the New Germany (2000) by Charles Williams, p. 293 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=7mhpKYpugJsC&pg=PA293

Forgetting

“Misattributed: [Israel] must see the sword as the main, if not the only, instrument with which to keep its morale high and to retain its moral tension. Toward this end it may, no — it must — invent dangers, and to do this it must adopt the method of provocation-and-revenge…”

Moshe Dayan (1915–1981) Israeli military leader and politician

This has been reported to be a direct quotation of Dayan in the diaries of Moshe Sharett, but is actually derived from an interpretive commentary by Livia Rokach in "Israel's Sacred Terrorism" (1980) upon statements of Dayan reported in Sharett's diaries, from accounts provided to him by Ya'acob Herzog and Gideon Raphael — in other words, it is a third-hand interpretation of Dayan's meaning, based on a second hand report of his arguments. Sharett's summation of Dayan's statements of 26 May 1955 read: We do not need a security pact with the U.S.: such a pact will only constitute an obstacle for us. We face no danger at all of an Arab advantage of force for the next 8-10 years. Even if they receive massive military aid from the West, we shall maintain our military superiority thanks to our infinitely greater capacity to assimilate new armaments. The security pact will only handcuff us and deny us the freedom of action which we need in the coming years. Reprisal actions which we couldn't carry out if we were tied to a security pact are our vital lymph ... they make it possible for us to maintain a high level of tension among our population and in the army. Without these actions we would have ceased to be a combative people and without the discipline of a combative people we are lost. We have to cry out that the Negev is in danger, so that young men will go there.... Rokach's interpretive assessment of this diary entry by Sharett produces: The conclusions from Dayan's words are clear: This State has no international obligations, no economic problems, the question of peace is nonexistent... It must calculate its steps narrow-mindedly and live on its sword. It must see the sword as the main, if not the only, instrument with which to keep its morale high and to retain its moral tension. Toward this end it may, no — it must — invent dangers, and to do this it must adopt the method of provocation-and-revenge.. . . And above all — let us hope for a new war with the Arab countries, so that we may finally get rid of our troubles and acquire our space.
Ref: en.wikiquote.org - Moshe Dayan / Misattributed
The Iron Wall (1999)

“The whole idea of revenge and punishment is a childish day-dream. Properly speaking, there is no such thing as revenge. Revenge is an act which you want to commit when you are powerless and because you are powerless: as soon as the sense of impotence is removed, the desire evaporates also.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

"Revenge is Sour" http://orwell.ru/library/articles/revenge/english/e_revso, Tribune (9 November 1945)

Dreams, Idea, Sense

“I have always disbelieved that Sicilian saying about revenge being a dish best served cold. I feel that--don't you?--when I see blinking, quivering octogenarian Nazi war criminals being led away in chains. Why not then? It's too late now. I want to see them taken back in time and punished then… Blame, certainly, is a dish only edible when served fresh and warm. Old blames, grudges and scores congeal and curdle and cause the most terrible indigestion.”

Stephen Fry (1957) English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist

1990s, Moab is My Washpot (autobiography, 1997)

War, Feeling, Time

“For those of you praying tonight.. Please pray for peace, not revenge…”

Alexander Rybak (1986) Norwegian singer, actor, violinist, composer, pianist

Peace

“Doutbless, revenge is not always sweet, once it is consummated we feel inferior to our victim, or else we are tangled in the subtleties of remorse; so vengeance too has its venom, though it comes closer to what we are, to what we feel, to the very law of the self; it is also healthier than magnanimity. The Furies were held to antedate the gods, Zeus included. Vengeance before Divinity! This is the Major intuition of ancient mythology.”

Emil M. Cioran book History and Utopia

p. 70. https://books.google.com/books?id=5DuCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT70 History and Utopia (1960)

God, Law, Self-confidence, Feeling

“Your aim is to reduce every thing to your own mean level—to degrade every thing to your malignant standard... In all your conduct it is not difficult to detect the workings of a mean and long mortified spirit suddenly invested with power,—the struggles of a strong ambition attempting, by a wanton exercise of authority, to revenge the disgrace of a feeble intellect.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Source: 'Letter VII. to Lord John Russell' (30 January 1836), The Letters of Runnymede (1836), pp. 60-61

Strong, Exercises

“What though the field be lost?
All is not Lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And the courage never to submit or yeild.”

John Milton book Paradise Lost

Variant: All is not lost, the unconquerable will, and study of revenge, immortal hate, and the courage never to submit or yield.
Source: Paradise Lost

Hate, Courage, Study

“If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?". - (Act III, scene I).”

William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice

Shylock, Act III, scene i.
Source: The Merchant of Venice (1596–7)
Context: I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

“Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head”

William Shakespeare Titus Andronicus

Source: Titus Andronicus

Death, Heart

“Revenge is not always sweet: once it is consummated we feel inferior to our victim.”

Emil M. Cioran book History and Utopia

History and Utopia (1960)

Feeling

“I am very proud, revengeful,
ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have
thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape,
or time to act them in.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

Imagination, Time

“It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Suffering

“You know what they say - the sweetest word in the English language is revenge.”

Peter Beard (1938–2020) American photographer and writer

Interview magazine, 1978.

“All creatures kill—there seems to be no exception; but of the whole list, man is the only one that kills for fun; he is the only one that kills in malice, the only one that kills for revenge.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Source: Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 (2010), p. 312

“I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct for revenge for which no expedient is sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean, petty — I call it the one immortal blemish of mankind.”

Friedrich Nietzsche book The Antichrist

Sec. 62
The Antichrist (1888)

Secret

“Just as maniacs, who never enjoy tranquility, so also he who is resentful and retains an enemy will never have the enjoyment of any peace; incessantly raging and daily increasing the tempest of his thoughts calling to mind his words and acts, and detesting the very name of him who has aggrieved him. Do you but mention his enemy, he becomes furious at once, and sustains much inward anguish; and should he chance to get only a bare sight of him, he fears and trembles, as if encountering the worst evils, Indeed, if he perceives any of his relations, if but his garment, or his dwelling, or street, he is tormented by the sight of them. For as in the case of those who are beloved, their faces, their garments, their sandals, their houses, or streets, excite us, the instant we behold them; so also should we observe a servant, or friend, or house, or street, or any thing else belonging to those We hate and hold our enemies, we are stung by all these things; and the strokes we endure from the sight of each one of them are frequent and continual. What is the need then of sustaining such a siege, such torment and such punishment? For if hell did not threaten the resentful, yet for the very torment resulting from the thing itself we ought to forgive the offences of those who have aggrieved us. But when deathless punishments remain behind, what can be more senseless than the man, who both here and there brings punishment upon himself, while he thinks to be revenged upon his enemy!”

John Chrysostom (349–407) important Early Church Father

Homilies on the Statues http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf109/Page_474.html, Homily XX

Hate, Fear, Peace, Forgiveness

“I mean the powerful influence which the interesting scenes of the Revolution had upon the passions of the people as distinguished from their judgment. By this influence, the jealousy, envy, and avarice incident to our nature and so common to a state of peace, prosperity, and conscious strength, were for the time in a great measure smothered and rendered inactive, while the deep-rooted principles of hate, and the powerful motive of revenge, instead of being turned against each other, were directed exclusively against the British nation. And thus, from the force of circumstances, the basest principles of our nature, were either made to lie dormant, or to become the active agents in the advancement of the noblest cause — that of establishing and maintaining civil and religious liberty. But this state of feeling must fade, is fading, has faded, with the circumstances that produced it. I do not mean to say that the scenes of the Revolution are now or ever will be entirely forgotten, but that, like everything else, they must fade upon the memory of the world, and grow more and more dim by the lapse of time. In history, we hope, they will be read of, and recounted, so long as the Bible shall be read; but even granting that they will, their influence cannot be what it heretofore has been. Even then they cannot be so universally known nor so vividly felt as they were by the generation just gone to rest. At the close of that struggle, nearly every adult male had been a participator in some of its scenes. The consequence was that of those scenes, in the form of a husband, a father, a son, or a brother, a living history was to be found in every family — a history bearing the indubitable testimonies of its own authenticity, in the limbs mangled, in the scars of wounds received, in the midst of the very scenes related — a history, too, that could be read and understood alike by all, the wise and the ignorant, the learned and the unlearned. But those histories are gone. They can be read no more forever. They were a fortress of strength; but what invading foeman could never do, the silent artillery of time has done — the leveling of its walls. They are gone. They were a forest of giant oaks; but the all-restless hurricane has swept over them, and left only here and there a lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its foliage, unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a few more gentle breezes, and to combat with its mutilated limbs a few more ruder storms, then to sink and be no more. They were pillars of the temple of liberty; and now that they have crumbled away that temple must fall unless we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

1830s, The Lyceum Address (1838)

Hate, People, Lie, World

“The moral duty of man consists in imitating the moral goodness and beneficence of God manifested in the creation towards all his creatures. That seeing as we daily do the goodness of God to all men, it is an example calling upon all men to practise the same towards each other; and, consequently, that every thing of persecution and revenge between man and man, and every thing of cruelty to animals, is a violation of moral duty.”

Thomas Paine book The Age of Reason

Recapitulation
1790s, The Age of Reason, Part I (1794)

Men, God, Animals

“People ask what I am really trying to do with humor. The answer is, "I'm getting even." … For me, being funny is the best revenge.”

Art Buchwald (1925–2007) journalist, humorist, United States Marine

People

“For my part, while I am as convinced a Socialist as the most ardent Marxian, I do not regard Socialism as a gospel of proletarian revenge, nor even, primarily, as a means of securing economic justice. I regard it primarily as an adjustment to machine production demanded by considerations of common sense, and calculated to increase the happiness, not only of proletarians, but of all except a tiny minority of the human race.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

Source: 1930s, In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays (1935), Ch. 7: The Case for Socialism

Justice, Sense, Parting, Happiness

“When the native hears a speech about Western culture he pulls out his knife—or at least he makes sure it is within reach. The violence with which the supremacy of white values is affirmed and the aggressiveness which has permeated the victory of these values over the ways of life and of thought of the native mean that, in revenge, the native laughs in mockery when Western values are mentioned in front of him.”

Frantz Fanon book The Wretched of the Earth

Source: The Wretched of the Earth (1961), p. 43.

Life, Way, Victory

“When a man steals your wife there is no better revenge than to let him keep her.”

Sacha Guitry (1885–1957) French dramatist and playwright

Book of Humorous Quotations, ed. Connie Robertson (1998), page 83

For Wife

“Human history is not the product of the wise direction of human reason, but is shaped by the forces of emotion—our dreams, our pride, our greed, our fears, and our desire for revenge.”

Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese writer

Confucius Saw Nancy and Essays about Nothing (1936), p. 95

Fear, Dreams, History

“America could carry on a two years' war by the confiscation of the property of disaffected persons, and be made happy by their expulsion. Say not that this is revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view but the good of all, have staked their own all upon a seemingly doubtful event. Yet it is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with prejudice.”

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist

The Crisis No. I.
1770s, The American Crisis (1776–1783)

War, People, Tear, Suffering

“Discipline is not revenge. The nation can only be built through commitment, discipline and elimination of corruption.”

Mahinda Rajapaksa (1945) Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

Quoted in The Hindu, "Rajapaksa promises peace and prosperity at Independence Day speech" http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article100524.ece, February 4, 2010.

“He [Jesus] not only forbids actual uncleanness, but all irregular desires, upon pain of hell-fire; causeless divorces; swearing in conversation, as well as forswearing in judgment; revenge; retaliation; ostentation of charity, of devotion, and of fasting; repetitions in prayer, covetousness, worldly care, censoriousness: and on the other side commands loving our enemies, doing good to those that hate us, blessing those that curse us, praying for those that despitefully use us; patience and meekness under injuries, forgiveness, liberality, compassion: and closes all; his particular injunctions, with this general golden rule, Matt. VII. 12, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets." And to show how much He is in earnest, and expects obedience to these laws, He tells them, Luke VI. 35, That if they obey, " great shall be their reward."”

John Locke (1632–1704) English philosopher and physician

§ 116
The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)

Love, Men, Pain, Hate

“Civil war, such as you have just passed through naturally engenders feelings of animosity, hatred, and revenge. It is our duty to divest ourselves of all such feelings; and as far as it is in our power to do so, to cultivate friendly feelings towards those with whom we have so long contended, and heretofore so widely, but honestly, differed. Neighborhood feuds, personal animosities, and private differences should be blotted out; and, when you return home, a manly, straightforward course of conduct will secure the respect of your enemies. Whatever your responsibilities may be to Government, to society, or to individuals meet them like men.”

Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821–1877) Confederate Army general

1860s, Farewell address (1865)

Men, War, Feeling, Home

“Tragedy, you can lay that at God's feet. But if we didn't bring additional evil into the world… we could tolerate the tragedy of Being without becoming corrupt. I think the answer to that is Yes, because I've seen people react quite heroically to the arbitrary burdens of their life. But malevolence, man, that lays them low. It seems to be nothing but a destructive force. The root of malevolence, and you see this in Cain and Abel, is the desire for revenge against God for creation itself. It's revenge against Being itself for the crime of Being.”

Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology

Other

Life, God, People, World

“The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely settled — but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.”

Edgar Allan Poe book The Cask of Amontillado

"The Cask of Amontillado" (1846).

Soul, Idea, Nature

“Instead of defining the word, let us briefly characterize or describe the phenomenon. Ressentiment is a self-poisoning of the mind which has quite definite causes and consequences. It is a lasting mental attitude, caused by the systematic repression of certain emotions and affects which, as such, are normal components of human nature. Their repression leads to the constant tendency to indulge in certain kinds of value delusions and corresponding value judgments. The emotions and affects primarily concerned are revenge, hatred, malice, envy, the impulse to detract, and spite.”

Max Scheler (1874–1928) German philosopher

Das Ressentiment im Aufbau der Moralen (1912)

Nature, Envy

“I want your love and I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance”

Lady Gaga (1986) American singer, songwriter, and actress

Bad Romance, written by Lady Gaga and RedOne
Song lyrics, The Fame Monster (2009)

Love

“And at the time the Republican Congress and a Senate candidate by the name of Mitt Romney — [crowd boos] No, no, no — Don't boo, vote. Vote! Voting's the best revenge.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Springfield, Ohio campaign event http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/11/02/remarks-president-springfield-oh, quoted in * 2012-11-02 Obama to supporters: Voting 'best revenge' against Mitt Romney Joe Newby Examiner http://www.examiner.com/node/54880521 2012-11-03 and * 2012-11-03 Obama tells crowd 'voting is the best revenge'; Romney freaks out Laura Clawson Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/03/1154805/-Obama-tells-crowd-voting-is-the-best-revenge-Romney-freaks-out 2012-11-03 2012

Time

“Whom do I hate most among the rabble of today? The socialist rabble, the chandala apostles, who undermine the instinct, the pleasure, the worker’s sense of satisfaction with his small existence–who make him envious, who teach him revenge. The source of wrong is never unequal rights but the claim of “equal” rights.”

Friedrich Nietzsche book The Antichrist

Sec. 57
The Antichrist (1888)

Hate, Pleasure, Sense

“One of the crucial elements to the analysis of morality is iterability. You can't play a degenerating game, because it degenerates, obviously. You want to play a game that at least remains stable across time. God, if you could really get your act together, maybe it could slowly get better. And of course, that's what you would hope for your family, right? That's what you're always trying to do, unless you're completely hell-bent on revenge and destruction. Is there a way that we can continue to play together that will make playing together even better the next day?”

Jordan Peterson (1962) Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology

Other

God, Family, Hope, Way

“With the aid of our transmitter, we heard a marvelous report on our fighting by the Shavit radio station. The fact that we are remembered beyond the ghetto walls encourages us in our struggle. Peace go with you my friend! Perhaps we may still meet again! The dream of my life has risen to become fact. Self-defense in the Ghetto will have been a reality. Jewish armed resistance and revenge are facts! I have been a witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men of battle.”

Mordechai Anielewicz (1919–1943) Leader of the Jewish Combat Organization

Life, Men, Peace, Dreams

“I have come to the conclusion that executions solve nothing, and are only an antiquated relic of a primitive desire for revenge which takes the easy way and hands over the responsibility for revenge to other people.”

Albert Pierrepoint (1905–1992) English executioner

Executioner: Pierrepoint. Harrap 1974. p. 210.

People, Way

“[I am] lover of his king and country, a lover of peace and the protestant interest…[Consent] is absolutely necessary to the very being and subsistance of our government and without which our peace and religion cannot possibly be any way secured…the miscarriages of the former reigns gave a rise and a right to King William's comeing and ushered him into the throne…Let us owne King William to be our King by right…[William came] to recover our oppressed and sinkeing laws, libertys, and Religion…They who would not betray England and expose it to popish rage and revenge, who have any regard to their country, their religion, their consciences, and their estates, must maintain the bulwarke have set up against it, and which alone preserves us against a more violent inundation of all sorts of misery than that we were soe lately delivered from.”

John Locke (1632–1704) English philosopher and physician

Letter to Edward Clarke (c. April 1690), quoted in James Farr and Clayton Roberts, 'John Locke on the Glorious Revolution: A Rediscovered Document', The Historical Journal, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Jun., 1985), pp. 385-398.

Peace, Religion, Law, Way

“We are too apt to erect our own little and narrow notions of what is right and just, into the law of justice, and to insist that God shall adopt that as His law; to measure off something with our own little tape-line, and call it God's law of justice. Continually we seek to ennoble our own ignoble love of revenge and retaliation, by misnaming it justice.”

Albert Pike book Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. III : The Master, p. 70
Context: Justice in no wise consists in meting out to another that exact measure of reward or punishment which we think and decree his merit, or what we call his crime, which is more often merely his error, deserves. The justice of the father is not incompatible with forgiveness by him of the errors and offences of his child. The Infinite Justice of God does not consist in meting out exact measures of punishment for human frailties and sins. We are too apt to erect our own little and narrow notions of what is right and just, into the law of justice, and to insist that God shall adopt that as His law; to measure off something with our own little tape-line, and call it God's law of justice. Continually we seek to ennoble our own ignoble love of revenge and retaliation, by misnaming it justice.

Love, God, Justice, Law

“The strife of the election is but human nature practically applied to the facts of the case. What has occurred in this case must ever recur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we will have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

1860s, On Democratic Government (1864)
Context: If the loyal people united were put to the utmost of their strength by the rebellion, must they not fail when divided and partially paralyzed by a political war among themselves? But the election was a necessity. We cannot have free government without elections; and if the election could force us to forego or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us. The strife of the election is but human nature practically applied to the facts of the case. What has occurred in this case must ever recur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we will have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged.

Wisdom, Men, Nature, Study

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”

George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States

1790s, Farewell Address (1796)
Context: The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.

Age, Nature, Country

“Who now speaks of the fires in Australia, or remembers that 18 months ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted? Who speaks now of the floods? I don’t know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature’s responses. Today I believe we have to slow down our rate of production and consumption and to learn to understand and contemplate the natural world. We need to reconnect with our real surroundings.”

Pope Francis (1936) 266th Pope of the Catholic Church

On the coronavirus and environmental crises. Cited in Pope salutes 'saints next door' in fight against coronavirus https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/08/pope-salutes-saints-next-door-fight-against-coronavirus-hyprocrisy in the Guardian. (8 April 2020) 2010s, 2020

Understanding, Learning, Nature, World

“Remembrance Day should therefore also be about war’s causes: ugly faiths, intolerance, lust for power and revenge, mutual hatreds prompted by historical accidents or differences of colour, custom or culture.”

A. C. Grayling (1949) English philosopher

Source: Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002), Chapter 47, “Remembrance” (p. 173)

Faith, War

“Forget the dead, the past? O yet there are ghosts that may take revenge for it, memories that make the heart a tomb, regrets which gild thro’ the spirit’s gloom, and with ghastly whispers tell that joy, once lost, is pain.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Romantic poet

Pain, Memory, Past, Heart

“For the moment, he's off plotting his Igoresque revenge. I don't know about you, but I have this image of him rubbing his hands together and laughing like Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory. (Kyrian)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Night Pleasures

Source: Night Pleasures

“Everyone knows revenge is a dish best served when you've had enough time to build up enough vitriol and fury.”

Sophie Kinsella book Twenties Girl

Source: Twenties Girl

Time

“Unfortunately, we're all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it's either tea or nothing.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Hodge and Clary, pg. 75
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones (2007)
Context: "Is there anything I could get for you?" he asked. "Something to drink? Some tea?"
"I don't want tea," said Clary, with a muffled force. "I want to find my mother. And then I want to find out who took her in the first place, and I want to kill them."
"Unfortunately," said Hodge, "we're all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it's either tea or nothing."

Tea

“This is payback, isn't it?" Jim glared at me. "Don't be ridiculous," I told him. "As the Consort of the Pack, I'm far above petty revenge.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Gifts

“Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

Source: Against Interpretation and Other Essays (1966), p. 7

Art

“The dead don't desire revenge, but the happiness of the livng. To dirty your small hands would bring joy to no one.
-Kenshin to Eiji”

Nobuhiro Watsuki (1970) Japanese manga artist

Joy, Dead, Happiness

“When you begin a journey of revenge, start by digging two graves: one for your enemy, and one for yourself.”

Jodi Picoult book Nineteen Minutes

Source: Nineteen Minutes

“I took a punch at one of the rosebushes. It got its revenge by stabbing me in the hand.”

Alex Flinn book Beastly

Source: Beastly

“She had opened a door… and now she was walking with demons. And at the end of her travels, she would have her revenge… Pain had made a sadist of her.”

Clive Barker book The Hellbound Heart

Source: The Hellbound Heart

Pain, Travel

“Revenge is like sex, Mister Dresden. It's best when it comes on slow, quiet, until it all seems inexorable.”

Jim Butcher book Grave Peril

Source: Grave Peril

Sex

“I write out of revenge.”

William Goldman (1931–2018) American novelist, screenwriter and playwright

“Recklessness is almost a man's revenge on his woman. He feels he is not valued so he will risk destroying himself to deprive her altogether.”

D.H. Lawrence book Sons and Lovers

Source: Sons and Lovers

Feeling

“I'd killed him in the end, but revenge only makes things all better in the movies. In real life, once the villain is dead the trauma lives on inside the victims.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Bullet

Source: Bullet

Life, Dead

“Do not seek revenge and call it justice.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Justice

“Revenge is more wild, less calculated… deeply personal. Retribution is a punishment that is morally right and fully deserved. (Mitch Rapp)”

Vince Flynn (1966–2013) American writer of fiction

Source: American Assassin

Personality

“Whether it was power they sought, or revenge, or love-well, those were all just different forms of hunger. The bigger the hole inside you, the more desperate you became to fill it.”

Jodi Picoult book The Storyteller

Source: The Storyteller

Love, Hunger

“It had been so good to see his enemy again. Positively heartwarming.

Hallmark really needed to start up a line of revenge cards, the kind that let you reach out to those you were going to come after with a vengeance.

- Lash”

Jessica Bird (1969) U.S. novelist

Source: Lover Enshrined

“Fool that I am," said he,"that I did not tear out my heart the day I resolved to revenge myself".”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Variant: What a fool I was, not to tear my heart out on the day when I resolved to avenge myself!
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Fools, Tear, Heart

“Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge — and has to content oneself with dreaming.”

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) French Post-Impressionist artist

Quote in Avant et Après, (1903); taken from Paul Gauguin's Intimate Journals, trans. (1923) Van Wyck Brooks [Dover, 1997, ISBN 0-486-29441-2], p. 2
1890s - 1910s

Life, Dreams

“The best revenge, like the best sex, is performed slowly, and with the eyes open.”

Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram

Source: Shantaram

Sex

“There are 6 reasons that a person does anything: Love, faith, greed, boredom, fear… revenge.”

Ally Carter book Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Source: Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover

Love, Fear, Faith, Personality

“So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
And cures and healing wells.”

Seamus Heaney (1939–2013) Irish poet, playwright, translator, lecturer

Hope, Change, Sea

“Revenge is sweet and not fattening.”

Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) British filmmaker

“Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold.”

Mario Puzo The Godfather

Variant: Revenge is a dish which taste best when served cold.
Source: The Godfather

“The best revenge is living well without you.”

Joyce Carol Oates (1938) American author

“You'll lie wi' me now," he said quietly. "And I shall use ye as I must. And if you'll have your revenge for it, then take it and welcome, for my soul is yours, in all the black corners of it.”

Diana Gabaldon book Dragonfly in Amber

Source: Dragonfly in Amber

Lie, Soul

“Darkness… When everything that you know and love… is taken from you so harshly… all you can think about is anger, hatred, and even revenge… and no one can save you.”

Masashi Kishimoto (1974) Japanese manga artist

Sad, Love, Thinking, Anger

“We learn our lessons; we get hurt; we want revenge. Then we realize that actually, happiness and forgiving people is the best revenge.”

Madonna (1958) American singer, songwriter, and actress

People, Forgiveness, Learning, Hurt

“The best revenge is living well.”

Jerry Seinfeld (1954) American comedian and actor

“Yotsuba: I’ll get revenge! … I’m going!

Jumbo (in a suffering manner): Yotsuba… please, come back alive…

Yotsuba (heroic): Alright. Even if I die… I’ll come back alive.

—–Yotsuba!”

Kiyohiko Azuma (1968) Japanese manga artist

Source: Yotsuba&!, Vol. 03

Suffering

“Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.”

Edward Gibbon The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Vol. 1, Chap. 11.
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire: Volume 1 (1776)
Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Gratitude

“I envied these women I saw before me, their beauty still intact. Life has its revenge of life. Untimely death is the secret of eternal youth.”

Shan Sa book Empress

Source: Empress

Life, Death, Women, Secret

“Bitterness is the coward's revenge on the world for having been hurt.”

Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) American folklorist, novelist, short story writer

World, Hurt

“Sometimes she thought the only things she had faith in were revenge and Julian.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

Faith

“In my case, literature is a kind of revenge. It's something that gives me what real life can't give me - all the adventures, all the suffering. All the experiences I can only live in the imagination, literature completes.”

Mario Vargas Llosa (1936) Peruvian writer, politician, journalist, and essayist

Life, Imagination, Literature, Suffering

“We should have just killed him, that's a lesson, don't get creative with revenge”

China Miéville book Kraken

Source: Kraken

“Revenge is the sweetest morsel to the mouth, that ever was cooked in hell.”

Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet

The Heart of Midlothian', Ch. 30 (1818).
Source: The Heart of Mid-Lothian

Hell, Cooking

“Revenge is a dish best served unexpectedly and from a distance - like a thrown trifle.”

Frances Hardinge (1973) British children's writer

Source: Twilight Robbery

“I am Jack's smirking revenge.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

“In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Revenge
Essays (1625)
Variant: Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon.