“As men we are all cursed by the violence in our natures.”
Men like the Moidart — aye, and Winterbourne — revel in that nature. We do not. We struggle to overcome it.
Source: Rigante series, Stormrider, Ch. 7
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
David Gemmell 195
British author of heroic fantasy 1948–2006Related quotes

This has commonly been attributed to Orwell but has not been found in any of his writings. Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/11/07/rough-men/ found the earliest known appearance in a 1993 Washington Times essay by Richard Grenier: "As George Orwell pointed out, people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." The absence of quotation marks indicates Grenier was using his own words to convey Orwell's opinion; thus it may have originated as a paraphrase of his statement in "Notes on Nationalism" https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwelnat.htm (May 1945): "Those who "abjure" violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf." There are also similar sentiments expressed in an essay which Orwell wrote on Rudyard Kipling, quoting from one of Kipling's poems: "Yes, making mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep." In the same essay Orwell also wrote of Kipling: "He sees clearly that men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to guard and feed them."
Misattributed

Citizenship Papers (2003), The Failure of War
Context: We are disposed, somewhat by culture and somewhat by nature, to solve our problems by violence, and even to enjoy doing so. And yet by now all of us must at least have suspected that our right to live, to be free, and to be at peace is not guaranteed by any act of violence. It can be guaranteed only by our willingness that all other persons should live, be free, and be at peace — and by our willingness to use or give our own lives to make that possible.
Source: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

Preface to Lear (1972; London: Methuen, 1983) p. lvii

“The eyes of all America are upon us, as we play our part in posterity will bless or curse us.”
Knox on the Declaration of Independence. Reported in David McCullough, 1776 (2005), p. 83.