Thoughts of Famous Violence Quotes in English
Violence quotes in English serve as poignant reflections of the intricate emotions and thoughts that arise in the context of aggressive behavior and conflict. These quotes often articulate a profound sense of societal disillusionment, capturing the frustrations and despair felt by individuals and communities who are grappling with the repercussions of violent actions. They delve into personal struggles, illustrating how individuals navigate the turbulent waters of anger, fear, and hopelessness, all while seeking a deeper understanding of their circumstances amid the chaos that surrounds them.
Here is a list of famous quotes about violence, along with their meanings and examples. These quotes explore the destructive nature of violence, the reasons people resort to it, and the impact it has on individuals and society.
1. "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." – Mahatma Gandhi
Meaning: Violence and revenge lead to an endless cycle of harm, ultimately damaging everyone involved. Gandhi suggests that retaliation only perpetuates suffering.
Example: Two rival gangs continue to attack each other in response to past conflicts, causing harm to both sides and their communities without finding any resolution.
2. "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." – Isaac Asimov
Meaning: When people lack the skills or intelligence to resolve conflicts peacefully, they may turn to violence. Asimov implies that violence is often a result of desperation or inability to handle situations in more constructive ways.
Example: A person unable to negotiate a peaceful solution with a colleague resorts to threats, showing a lack of competence in problem-solving.
3. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." – Martin Luther King Jr.
Meaning: King emphasizes that violence and hatred cannot resolve hatred or injustice. Only positive forces like love and compassion can bring about lasting peace and change.
Example: During the civil rights movement, peaceful protests aimed to end racial hatred by appealing to justice and equality, rather than responding with violence.
4. "Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars." – Martin Luther King Jr.
Meaning: Retaliation only leads to more violence, creating a vicious cycle that makes the world even darker and more hopeless. King warns against escalating conflicts through violent responses.
Example: Countries engaging in an arms race can end up in prolonged conflicts, making peace harder to achieve as violence only escalates further.
5. "You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist." – Indira Gandhi
Meaning: Cooperation and peace require an open mind and willingness to compromise. Violence and aggression prevent connection and understanding.
Example: During a negotiation, one party refuses to listen or compromise, making it impossible to reach an agreement or mutual understanding.
6. "Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral." – Martin Luther King Jr.
Meaning: King argues that violence is not an effective or ethical way to achieve justice, especially in the context of racial inequality. He believes peaceful methods are morally and practically superior.
Example: Civil rights leaders focused on nonviolent protests to fight for racial equality, believing it was the only way to achieve true and lasting justice.
7. "Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Meaning: Violence does not lead to peace, but understanding and empathy can help resolve conflicts. Peace comes from efforts to understand and respect one another’s perspectives.
Example: A mediator helps two opposing groups come to an agreement by fostering dialogue and mutual understanding, rather than resorting to force.
8. "When violence occurs, it tears apart the fabric of society." – Nelson Mandela
Meaning: Violence disrupts society and destroys trust, unity, and stability. Mandela suggests that violence has deep, damaging effects that go beyond individual harm.
Example: Riots and violent protests often lead to social unrest, harming businesses, communities, and relationships between different groups.
9. "It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence." – Mahatma Gandhi
Meaning: Gandhi implies that true nonviolence comes from inner strength and conviction, not from weakness or passivity. It’s more genuine to express true feelings than to hide them behind a false pretense of peace.
Example: A person genuinely committed to peace may feel anger but works to channel it productively, rather than pretending to be nonviolent while harboring resentment.
10. "Violence breeds violence." – Stokely Carmichael
Meaning: Violence tends to lead to more violence, creating a self-sustaining cycle. When people respond to violence with aggression, it often escalates rather than resolves the conflict.
Example: A community struck by a violent crime may retaliate, leading to further violence and making reconciliation even harder.
11. "It is clear that the way to heal society of its violence...is to replace the pyramid of domination with the circle of equality and respect." – Manitonquat
Meaning: Manitonquat suggests that societal violence is rooted in power imbalances. A more peaceful society can be achieved by promoting equality and respect rather than hierarchical control.
Example: A community group focuses on dialogue and equitable treatment of all members, building a sense of unity rather than power struggles.
12. "There is no way to peace, peace is the way." – A.J. Muste
Meaning: Muste argues that peace is not merely a goal but a continuous practice. True peace comes from committing to peaceful actions and values at all times, not just in the outcome.
Example: A person who values peace avoids arguments and looks for compromise in all interactions, treating peace as an ongoing practice.
13. "We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature." – Rachel Carson
Meaning: Carson suggests that true peace extends beyond human conflicts to compassion for all life. A peaceful mindset doesn’t entertain violence against any living being.
Example: An individual committed to nonviolence practices kindness to animals and respects all forms of life, embodying peace in their actions and beliefs.
14. "Violence is the language of the unheard." – Martin Luther King Jr.
Meaning: King suggests that people may turn to violence when they feel ignored or oppressed. Violence often comes from desperation, when peaceful methods have failed to bring attention to injustices.
Example: In response to long-standing injustices, some oppressed groups resort to protests, sometimes turning violent, as a way to draw attention to their plight.
15. "Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong." – Mahatma Gandhi
Meaning: Gandhi believed that true strength lies in the ability to resist violence, not in the ability to inflict it. Nonviolence requires resilience and self-control, traits of inner strength.
Example: An activist facing aggression during a protest chooses not to retaliate, demonstrating the strength of character that nonviolence demands.
16. "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." – George Orwell
Meaning: Orwell highlights a complex aspect of violence, suggesting that, paradoxically, a certain degree of force may be necessary to maintain peace and protect society.
Example: Law enforcement and military forces protect communities, sometimes having to use force to prevent crime or defend against aggression, allowing civilians to live peacefully.
17. "Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived." – Abraham Lincoln
Meaning: Lincoln suggests that although violence can yield immediate results, these victories don’t last. Force may win battles, but it rarely leads to lasting peace or respect.
Example: A country might win a war through sheer force but struggles to maintain stability, showing that violence isn’t a sustainable solution.
18. "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." – John F. Kennedy
Meaning: If people are denied peaceful avenues for change, they may feel forced to resort to violence. Kennedy warns that suppressing peaceful reforms can lead to violent uprisings.
Example: In societies where peaceful protests are banned, oppressed groups often resort to violent rebellion, as they have no other means of expressing their grievances.
These quotes reflect the many perspectives on violence—its origins, consequences, and alternatives. Together, they illustrate the destructive nature of violence and the power of peace as a pathway to lasting change.
For example, Mahatma Gandhi’s powerful assertion, "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind," encapsulates the essence of the futility that often accompanies the cycle of revenge. This statement underscores not only the destructive nature of retaliation but also advocates for the urgent need to pursue peace and reconciliation rather than perpetuating violence. Gandhi’s words remind us that the path of vengeance ultimately leads to collective suffering and loss, illuminating the critical need for alternative approaches that foster healing and connection.
Similarly, quotes from influential figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Friedrich Nietzsche enrich the discourse surrounding the paradox of violence. King’s teachings often challenged the legitimacy of violent protest and punitive measures, urging for nonviolent resistance as a means to achieve social justice. Nietzsche, on the other hand, explored the darker impulses of humanity, questioning the morality of violence and its profound effects on our existence. His reflections provoke thought regarding the underlying motivations for aggressive behavior and the philosophical implications of acting on such impulses.
These succinct expressions serve as powerful reminders of the far-reaching consequences of violence—both on a personal level and within the larger societal framework. They emphasize the importance of dialogue, empathy, and understanding as vital tools in resolving disputes and addressing conflicts. In a world where aggressive behavior can lead to devastating outcomes, the insights encapsulated in these quotes resonate with the urgency of fostering a culture that prioritizes peaceful resolutions and nurtures the human capacity for compassion and mutual respect. Through the lens of these impactful words, we are invited to reflect on the complexities of human behavior and the necessity of seeking constructive pathways towards harmony and understanding.
Thought of the day Violence
Violence commands both literature and life, and violence is always crude and distorted.
Ellen Glasgow Thought
A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it. Lewis H. Lapham |
If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolute night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course it ends in power's disappearance. Hannah Arendt |
They attack the one man with their hate and their shower of weapons. But he is like some rock which stretches into the vast sea and which, exposed to the fury of the winds and beaten against by the waves, endures all the violence. Virgil |
Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear. Jiddu Krishnamurti |
If you strike a child, take care that you strike it in anger, even at the risk of maiming it for life. A blow in cold blood neither can nor should be forgiven. George Bernard Shaw |
Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little. - Plutarch |
If somebody says 'I love you' to me, I feel as though I had a pistol pointed at my head. What can anybody reply under such conditions but that which the pistol holder requires? 'I love you, too'. - Kurt Vonnegut |
On the one hand, the guns were there to help capture the imagination of the people. But more important, since we knew that you couldn't observe the police without guns, we took our guns with us to let the police know that we have an equalizer. Bobby Seale |
It is by no means self-evident that human beings are most real when most violently excited; violent physical passions do not in themselves differentiate men from each other, but rather tend to reduce them to the same state. - Thomas Elliot |
Violence Quotes List |
Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself. - Lao Tzu |
Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is the infatuation with violence. Jim Morrison Quotation |
The main goal of the future is to stop violence. The world is addicted to it. A Quotation From Bill Cosby |
There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people. - Muhammad Ali |
Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the Gun down. - Violence Quotes in English by Malcom X |
This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence. - Ben Elton |
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Isaac Asimov |
Violence is not only impractical but immoral. Martin Luther King Jr. |
In violence, we forget who we are. Mary Mccarthy |
Return not violence for violence. Abu Hanifa |
Violence is man re-creating himself. Frantz Fanon |
Violence is not a catalyst but a diversion. Joseph Conrad |
Violence is not power, but the absence of power. Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Violence of the tongue is very real- sharper than any knife. Teresa Giudice |
Violence is born of the desire to escape oneself. Iris Murdoch |
Violence is not only impractical but immoral. - Martin Luther King Jr. |
A violent order is disorder; and a great disorder is an order. - Wallace Stevens |
An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind. Mahatma Gandhi |
What is gained by violence must be lost before superior violence. Mahatma Gandhi |
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. John F. Kennedy |
Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence. Francis Jeffrey |
To paraphrase several sages: Nobody can think and hit someone at the same time. - Susan Sontag |
Human nature favors the tribal. Tribalism engenders violence. It was ever thus and so it will ever be. - Kate Atkinson |
One must do violence to the object of one's desire; when it surrenders, the pleasure is greater. Marquis De Sade |
I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence. - John Lennon |
Extreme violence has a way of preventing us from seeing the interests it serves. - Naomi Klein |
Violence and injury enclose in their net all that do such things, and generally return upon him who began. Lucretius |
At the end of the day, violence never really solves any problem it just creates new one. unknown |
Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause. Chris Hedges |
Violence does not always take visible form, and not all wounds gush blood. Haruki Murakami |
We are effectively destroying ourselves by violence masquerading as love. - R.D. Laing |
The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime. - Max Stirner |
Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity. - G.K. Chesterton |
Violence send deep roots into the heart, it has no seasons, it is always ripe, evergreen. Pat Conroy |
War is not a means but an end. It makes violence respectable and makes sadists look like heroes. - Mary Horlock |
Senseless violence is a prerogative of youth, which has much energy but little talent for the constructive. - Anthony Burgess |
Hungry people cannot be good at learning or producing anything, except perhaps violence. Pearl Bailey |
Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence. - Violence Quotes by Francis Jeffrey |
We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion. - Mother Teresa |
No amount of violence you've done to others prepares you for violence done to yourself. Glen Duncan |
Violence commands both literature and life, and violence is always crude and distorted. Ellen Glasgow * |
Violence is an admission that one's ideas and goals cannot prevail on their own merits. Edward Kennedy |
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. - John F. Kennedy Download or Share |
Nothing good ever comes of violence. Martin Luther Sayings Download or Share |
Great anger and violence can never build a nation. - Nelson Mandela Quotation Download or Share |
In violence we forget who we are. - Mary Mccarthy Sayings Download or Share |
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. - Isaac Asimov Download or Share |
Violence is the problem, not the solution. unknown |
Physical love is unthinkable without violence. - Milan Kundera Download or Share |
Poverty is the worst form of violence. Mahatma Gandhi Download or Share |
Violence is never the answer, until it's the only answer. Derek Landy Download or Share |
Violence is the last word of the illiterate. Also the first. Solomon Short Download or Share |
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary. - Mahatma Gandhi Download or Share |
Violence Quotation in English |
Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared. Henri Nouwen |
The violence done us by others is often less painful than that which we do to ourselves Francois de la Rochefoucauld |
Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn |
If someone puts their hands on you make sure they never put their hands on anybody else again. - Malcom X |
The violence done us by others is often less painful than that which we do to ourselves. Francois de la Rochefoucauld |
Through violence, you may murder the hater, but you do not murder the hate. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
If you hate violence and don't believe in politics, the only major remedy remaining is education. - George Orwell |
Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
The right things to do are those that keep our violence in abeyance; the wrong things are those that bring it to the fore. Robert J. Sawyer |
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing that it seeks to destroy. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. George Orwell |
All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do. Leo Tolstoy |
I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. Mahatma Gandhi |
Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
Violence is like a strong perfume. It may seem good from afar, but as soon as you get close it's sickening. unknown |
There is a violence that liberates, and a violence that enslaves; there is a violence that is moral and a violence that is immoral. Benito Mussolini |
Violence is an evil thing, but when the guns are all in the hands of the men without respect for human rights, then men are really in trouble. - Louis L'Amour |
The sight of blood to crowds begets the thirst of more, As the first wine-cup leads to the long revel. Lord Byron |
The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of non-violence has been the organization of violence. Joan Baez |
We fear violence less than our own feelings. Personal, private, solitary pain is more terrifying than what anyone else can inflict. Jim Morrison |
It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence. - Mahatma Gandhi |
The right things to do are those that keep our violence in abeyance; the wrong things are those that bring it to the fore. - Violence Quotes by Robert J. Sawyer |
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
We fear violence less than our own feelings. Personal, private, solitary pain is more terrifying than what anyone else can inflict. - Jim Morrison |
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd. - Bertrand Russell |
I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man's problem just to avoid violence. Malcolm X |
Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men. Saint Augustine |
There is a comfort in conformity, a security in control, that is appealing. There is a thrill in domination, and we are all secretly attracted to violence. - Tom Robbins |
When a man carries an instrument of violence, he'll always find the justification to use it. If we really want to escape this war, we have to stop bringing it with us. - Brian K. Vaughan Thoughts |
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. - E.F. Schumacher Thought |
Violence is the method of ignorance, the weapon of the weak. The strong of heart and brain need no violence, for they are irresistible in their consciousness of being right. - Alexander Berkman |
Our age not only does not have a very sharp eye for the almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, it no longer has much feeling for the nature of the violences which precede and follow them. - Flannery O'Connor |
Learn this now and learn it well. Like a compass facing north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam. - Khaled Hosseini |
Violence and smut are of course everywhere on the airwaves. You cannot turn on your television without seeing them, although sometimes you have to hunt around. Dave Barry |
But before he could either comfort me or commit further acts of violence upon my person, I spun away from him and made my drama queen moment complete by running away. - Rachel Hawkins |
I write about violence as naturally as Jane Austen wrote about manners. Violence shapes and obsesses our society, and if we do not stop being violent we have no future. Edward Bond |
The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. - Edgar Allan Poe |
Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course it ends in power's disappearance. Hannah Arendt |
There are situations in life to which the only satisfactory response is a physically violent one. If you don't make that response, you continually relive the unresolved situation over and over in your life. Russell Hoban |
We must unite. Violence against women cannot be tolerated, in any form, in any context, in any circumstance, by any political leader or by any government. Ban Ki-moon |
