Retaliation Quotes

• Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Peace, Kings

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.115, Beacon Press

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• Without forgiveness life is governed by... an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.

  Roberto Assagioli

  Life, Forgiveness, Spiritual

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• Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peace, Revenge, Men

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.115, Beacon Press

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• When you say something really unkind, when you do something in retaliation your anger increases. You make the other person suffer, and he will try hard to say or to do something back to get relief from his suffering. That is how conflict escalates.

  Nhat Hanh

  Anger, Suffering, Trying

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2001). “Anger”, p.55, Penguin

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• Retaliation is counter-poison and poison breeds more poison. The nectar of Love alone can destroy the poison of hate.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Freedom, Hate, Democracy

  Mahatma Gandhi (1958). “Collected Works”

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• Retaliation is related to nature and instinct, not to law. Law, by definition, cannot obey the same rules as nature.

  Albert Camus

  Law, Punishment, Intuition

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• Nonviolence is not a weapon of the weak. It is a weapon of the strongest and bravest.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Freedom, Democracy, Weapons

  Mahatma Gandhi (1976). “Collected Works”

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• The potential beauty of human life is constantly made ugly by man's ever-recurring song of retaliation.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Song, Men, Ugly

  Martin Luther King (Jr.) (2007). “Dream: The Words and Inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr”, p.91, Blue Mountain Arts, Inc.

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• Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.

  Doris Kearns Goodwin

  Inspirational, Leadership, People

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• Of ill-temper there are three kinds: irascibility, bitterness, sullenness. It belongs to the ill-tempered man to be unable to bear either small slights or defeats but to be given to retaliation and revenge, and easily moved to anger by any chance deed or word. Ill-temper is accompanied by excitability of character, instability, bitter speech, and liability to take offence at trifles and to feel these feelings quickly and on slight occasions.

  Aristotle

  Revenge, Anger, Character

  Aristotle (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)”, p.2945, Delphi Classics

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• The opposite of retaliation is to entrust ourselves to God, who judges justly.

  Jerry Bridges

  Opposites, Judging

  Jerry Bridges (2014). “The Fruitful Life: The Overflow of God's Love Through You”, p.66, Tyndale House

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• I am not afraid of retaliations. I don't have kids. I don't have a wife, no car, no credit. It may seem pompous, but I'd rather die standing than live on my knees.

  Charb

  Kids, Wife, Car

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• The will to survive is not as important as the will to prevail... the answer to criminal aggression is retaliation.

  Jeff Cooper

  Gun, Will To Survive, Marine Corps

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• Sometimes when family members least deserve love, they need it most. Love is not appropriately expressed in threats, accusations, expressions of disappointment, or retaliation. Real love takes time, patience, help, and continuing performances.

  Marvin J. Ashton

  Disappointment, Real, Love Is

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• To some men peace merely means the liberty to exploit other people without fear of retaliation or interference. To others peace means the freedom to rob others without interruption. To still others it means the leisure to devour the goods of the earth without being compelled to interrupt their pleasures to feed those whom their greed is starving. And to practically everybody peace simply means the absence of any physical violence that might cast a shadow over lives devoted to the satisfaction of their animal appetites for comfort and pleasure.

  Thomas Merton

  Mean, Men, Animal

  Thomas Merton (2007). “New Seeds of Contemplation”, p.122, New Directions Publishing

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• No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full.

  Sulla

  Thankful, Revenge, Enemy

  Epitaph he made for himself. "Heroes of History: A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age". Book by Will Durant, 2001.

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• The potential beauty of human life is constantly made ugly by man's ever recurring song of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever rising tides of revenge. Man has never risen above the injunction of the lex talionis: "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." In spite of the fact that the law of revenge solves no social problems, men continue to follow its disastrous leading. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Song, Revenge, Ocean

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• What goes around, comes around.

  Willie Nelson

  Karma, Respect, Revenge

  Willie Nelson, Turk Pipkin (2006). “The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart”, p.33, Penguin

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• It is frequently said that speech that is intentionally provocative and therefore invites physical retaliation can be punished or suppressed. Yet, plainly no such general proposition can be sustained. Quite the contrary.... The provocative nature of the communication does not make it any the less expression. Indeed, the whole theory of free expression contemplates that expression will in many circumstances be provocative and arouse hostility. The audience, just as the speaker, has an obligation to maintain physical restraint.

  Thomas I. Emerson

  Integrity, Communication, Responsibility

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• There are people who are willing to suffer and swallow their tears at leisure, and God will no doubt reward them in heaven for their resignation; but those who have the will to struggle strike back at fate in retaliation for the blows they receive.

  Alexandre Dumas

  Valentine, Struggle, Fighting

  "The Count of Monte Cristo".

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• No man may initiate the use of physical force against others. No man-or group or society or government-has the right to assume the role of a criminal and initiate the use of physical compulsion against any man. Men have the right to use physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use. The ethical principle involved is simple and clear-cut: it is the difference between murder and self-defense.

  Ayn Rand

  Cutting, Simple, Men

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• This much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.

  Robert Kennedy

  War, Soul, Violence

  Robert F. Kennedy (1998). “Make Gentle the Life of the World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy”, Harcourt

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• The emptiness and folly of retaliation are apparent from every example which can be brought forward. Not only Jesus Christ, but the most eminent professors of every sect of philosophy, have reasoned against this futile superstition.

  Percy Bysshe Shelley

  Jesus, Philosophy, Example

  Percy Bysshe Shelley (1859). “Shelley Memorials: From Authentic Sources : Now First Printed”, p.269

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• Worthless are those who injure others vengefully, while those who stoically endure are like stored gold. The gratification of the vengeful lasts only for a day, but the glory of the forbearing lasts until the end of time. Though unjustly aggrieved, it is best to suffer the suffering and refrain from unrighteous retaliation.

  Thiruvalluvar

  Suffering, Gold, Lasts

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• We can no longer afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Love is the key to the solution of the problems of the world.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Life, Hate, Ocean

  "The Quest for Peace and Justice". Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Nobel Lecture in Oslo, Norway, www.nobelprize.org. December 11, 1964.

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