VIOLENCE QUOTES
quotations about violence
There are only three kinds of people. LEADERS. Those who take charge, build, inspire, and create. FOLLOWERS. Those who support leaders and work to achieve mutually beneficial goals.... [and] DESTROYERS. Destroyers cannot find it within themselves to follow anyone, their hatred and insecurity is too pure to see strength in any OTHER being. They utterly lack the ability to inspire or create, so they do the only thing left to them -- they tear down all they come in contact with.
RICK REMENDER
Uncanny X-Force, No. 19, February 2012
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
"Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?", 1967
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
MAHATMA GANDHI
Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13, May 3, 1919
He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
The Fellowship of the Ring
As long as people use violence to combat violence, we will always have violence.
MICHAEL BERG
interview, CNN, June 8, 2006
There's no such thing as life without bloodshed. I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea. Those who are afflicted with this notion are the first ones to give up their souls, their freedom. Your desire that it be that way will enslave you and make your life vacuous.
CORMAC MCCARTHY
The New York Times, April 19, 1992
The threat of violence can be almost as stressful as actually suffering or witnessing violence.
L. EUGENE ARNOLD
Childhood Stress
You treat violence as an aberration ... when in truth it is the norm. It is the very essence of the human condition.
DAN SIMMONS
Carrion Comfort
You can no more eradicate violence than you could eradicate love or hate or laughter.... The love of violence is an aspect of our humanity. Even the weak wish to be strong primarily so they can wield the whip.
DAN SIMMONS
Carrion Comfort
Violence is a dead end. It is a sign neither of courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children or to blow up old women on a bus. That's not how moral authority is claimed, that's how it is surrendered.
BARACK OBAMA
speech, June 4, 2009
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Astounding Science Fiction, May 1942
Violence is never the answer, until it's the only answer.
DEREK LANDY
The Dying of the Light
Violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die; like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Romeo and Juliet
The blade itself incites to deeds of violence.
HOMER
The Odyssey
Some people draw a comforting distinction between "force" and "violence". They define "violence" as the improper use of "force", and "force" as "violence sanctioned by law". I refuse to cloud the issue by such word-play.... With some exceptions, the power which establishes a state is violence; the power which maintains it is violence; the power which eventually overthrows it is violence -- or if you prefer a nicer word "force".... Call an elephant a rabbit only if it gives you comfort to feel that you are about to be trampled to death by a rabbit.
KENNETH KAUNDA
"Living by the Sword", Kaunda on Violence
All violence flows from the same source ... the need for power. Power is the only true morality ... the only deathless god, and the appetite for violence is its only commandment.
DAN SIMMONS
Carrion Comfort
We pay for the violence of our ancestors.
FRANK HERBERT
Dune
The sight of blood to crowds begets the thirst of more,
As the first wine-cup leads to the long revel.
LORD BYRON
Marino Faliero
Violence is not a catalyst but a diversion.
JOSEPH CONRAD
The Secret Agent
I despair at the rise of modern violence. I truly give in to despair at times, that deep, futureless pit of despair.... I watch the American slaughterhouse, the casual attacks on popes, presidents, and uncounted others, and I wonder if there are many more out there with the Ability or if butchery has simply become the modern way of life.
DAN SIMMONS
Carrion Comfort