106 Revenge Quotes And Sayings

Revenge, a powerful and complex emotion, has been a central theme in literature, movies, and everyday life for centuries. It delves deep into the human psyche, often reflecting our darker impulses and the universal desire for justice or retribution. Whether you're seeking solace in words after a personal experience, exploring the depths of human nature, or simply indulging in the wisdom of those who have articulated these feelings before, this curated collection of the top 106 revenge quotes and sayings promises to offer insight, perspective, and perhaps even a touch of cathartic release. Join us as we navigate through the intricacies of vengeance and the poignant thoughts it has inspired throughout time.

1. “I am a Jew. Hathnot a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed withthe same food, hurt with the same weapons, subjectto the same diseases, healed by the same means,warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, asa Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poisonus, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we notrevenge? If we are like you in the rest, we willresemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christianwrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be byChristian example? Why, revenge. The villany youteach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but Iwill better the instruction.” - William Shakespeare

2. “I take my only exercise acting as a pallbearer at the funerals of my friends who exercise regularly.” - Mark Twain

3. “The passion for revenge should never blind you to the pragmatics of the situation. There are some people who are so blighted by their past, so warped by experience and the pull of that silken cord, that they never free themselves of the shadows that live in the time machine...And if there is a kind thought due them, it may be found contained in the words of the late Gerald Kersh, who wrote:"... there are men whom one hates until a certain moment when one sees, through a chink in their armour, the writhing of something nailed down and in torment.” - Harlan Ellison

4. “I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for.” - J.K. Rowling

5. “Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural.” - William Makepeace Thackeray

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

7. “He leant his two elbows on his knees, and his chin on his hands and remained rapt in dumb meditation. On my inquiring the subject of his thoughts, he answered gravely 'I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!''For shame, Heathcliff!' said I. 'It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.''No, God won’t have the satisfaction that I shall,' he returned. 'I only wish I knew the best way! Let me alone, and I'll plan it out: while I'm thinking of that I don't feel pain.” - Emily Brontë

8. “He had the hypocrisy to represent a mourner: and previous to following with Hareton, he lifted the unfortunate child on to the table and muttered, with peculiar gusto, 'Now, my bonny lad, you are mine! And we'll see if one tree won't grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!” - Emily Brontë

9. “Vengeance and retribution require a long time; it is the rule.” - Charles Dickens

10. “The moment you stop chasing happiness, you become happy.” - Sandy Hyatt-James

11. “Hey, times are tough, and thirty gold coins can do a lot of good. But I guess you wouldn't know about needing money, since you grew up like a little princ..."(Rapunzel glares)"Prin... soner. I mean, prisoner! A prisoner in a tower, such a shame, that.” - Shannon Hale

12. “Beware the fury of a patient man.” - John Dryden

13. “One thing at a time,' said the Boy. 'You must be patient. This is a day of hope and wild revenge. Do not interrupt me. I am a courier from another world. I bring you golden words.Listen!' said the Boy. 'Where I come from there is no more fear. But there is a roaring and a bellowing and a cracking of bones. And sometimes there is silence when, lolling on your thrones, your slaves adore you.” - Mervyn Peake

14. “People should either be caressed or crushed. If you do them minor damage they will get their revenge; but if you cripple them there is nothing they can do. If you need to injure someone, do it in such a way that you do not have to fear their vengeance.” - Niccolo Machiavelli

15. “For the taking of revenge, a man locks himself up alone and thinks. His stomach must be empty for his head to be full. Vengeance comes a little from the heart and a lot from the mind; one must take oneself apart from the noise of men and of things, even from what resembles them; only the voices of bells and of thunder are allowed. Let the room in which you meditate be dark, narrow and warm.” - Xavier Forneret

16. “I'm a fighter. I believe in the eye-for-an-eye business. I'm no cheek turner. I got no respect for a man who won't hit back. You kill my dog, you better hide your cat.” - Muhammad Ali

17. “Revenge is Always Sweet, it's the Aftertaste that's Bitter.” - Joshua Caleb

18. “I do not believe that I am a vindictive man, but when the immortal gods take a hand in the matter it is pardonable to observe the results with complacency.” - W. Somerset Maugham

19. “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” - Watsuki Nobuhiro

20. “This letter is written on the skin of one of the water sprites who drowned your parents.''Ick!' I cried, and dropped the letter on the kitchen table.” - Charlaine Harris

21. “When someone is mean to me, I just make them a victim in my next book.” - Mary Higgins Clark

22. “What's the big idea?" Sabrina demanded. "I declared war on you, remember?" Puck said. Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Is this another one of your stupid pranks?" Puck sniffed. "You have contaminated me with your puberty virus and you called my villainy into question." "First of all, puberty isn't a virus," Sabrina said as she fought a tug of was with the Pegasus for her now rather damp pillow."Secondly, I'm sorry if I gave you the itty-bitty baby and boo-boo face. Do you wasnt me to give you a hug?" Puck curled his lip in anger. "Oh, now is the baby cranky. Perhaps we should put him down for a nap?" "We'll see who's laughing soon enough," Puck said. "You see these flying horses?" "Duh!" "These horses have a very special diet," Puck said. "For the last two days they have eaten nothing but chili dogs and prune juice." Sabrina heard a rumble coming from Puck's horse. It was so loud it drowned out the sound of its beating wings. Sabrina couldn't tell if the churn of the sound was worse for the Pegasus but it whined a bit and its eyes bulged nervously. Puck continued. "Now, chili dogs and prune juice are a hard combination on a person's belly. It can keep a human being on the toilet for a week. Imagine what would happen if I fed chili dogs and prune juice to an eight-hundred-and-fifty-pound flying horse. Oh, wait a minute! You don't have to imagine it. I did feed chili dogs and prune juice to an eight-hundred-and-fifty-pound flying horse. In fact, I fed them all the same thing!” - Michael Buckley

23. “The necklace, Marcos,” she said firmly, leveling the gun at his heart once more. “I’ll take it now.” “It’s not here, querida. You waste your time.”Francesca lowered the gun to point at his groin. “Killing you would be too good. Perhaps I will simply have to deprive the female world of your ability to make love ever again. I am quite a good shot, I assure you.” She’d learned out of necessity. And though she never wanted to harm another human being, she had no compunction about making this man think she would do so if it meant she could save Jacques.His voice dropped to a growl. A hateful, angry growl. “You won’t get away with this. Whoever you are, Frankie, I will find you. I will find you and make you wish you’d never met me.”Her heart flipped in her chest. She ignored it. “I already wish that. Now give me the jewel before you lose the ability to ever have children.”Bitterness twisted inside her as she said those words. Ironic to threaten someone with something she would never wish on another soul. But she had to be hard, cold, ruthless – just like he was.He stared at her in impotent fury, his jaw grinding, his beautiful black eyes flashing daggers at her. Very slowly, he reached up with one hand and slipped his bowtie free of its knot. Then he jerked it loose and let it fall.” - Lynn Raye Harris

24. “It is exactly the fear of revenge that motivates the deepest crimes, from the killing of the enemy's children lest they grow up to play their own part, to the erasure of the enemy's graveyards and holy places so that his hated name can be forgotten.” - Christopher Hitchens

25. “And thus to my final and most melancholy point: a great number of Stalin's enforcers and henchmen in Eastern Europe were Jews. And not just a great number, but a great proportion. The proportion was especially high in the secret police and 'security' departments, where no doubt revenge played its own part, as did the ideological attachment to Communism that was so strong among internationally minded Jews at that period: Jews like David Szmulevski. There were reasonably strong indigenous Communist forces in Czechoslovakia and East Germany, but in Hungary and Poland the Communists were a small minority and knew it, were dependent on the Red Army and aware of the fact, and were disproportionately Jewish and widely detested for that reason. Many of the penal labor camps constructed by the Nazis were later used as holding pens for German deportees by the Communists, and some of those who ran these grim places were Jewish. Nobody from Israel or the diaspora who goes to the East of Europe on a family-history fishing-trip should be unaware of the chance that they will find out both much less and much more than the package-tour had promised them. It's easy to say, with Albert Camus, 'neither victims nor executioners.' But real history is more pitiless even than you had been told it was.” - Christopher Hitchens

26. “Ahab is for ever Ahab, man. This whole act's immutably decreed. 'Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates' lieutenant, I act under orders.” - Herman Melville

27. “The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when their tormentors suffer.” - Laura Hillenbrand

28. “My reign is not yet over... you live, and my power is complete. Follow me; I seek the everlasting ices of the north, where you will feel the misery of cold and frost to which I am impassive. You will find near this place, if you follow not too tardily, a dead hare; eat and be refreshed. Come on, my enemy; we have yet to wrestle for our lives; but many hard and miserable hours must you endure until that period shall arrive.” - Mary Shelley

29. “I only suggest to you: Will you dwell on killing this man? You wish for revenge? If you do, he has already killed you by slow poison. So, let it go. Why waste your time? His life will see to his death.” - Lloyd Alexander

30. “Perish the universe, provided I have my revenge!” - Cyrano de Bergerac

31. “If I ask God to punish my enemy with vengeful prayers,then He is fair to allow the enemy to do the same for me.” - Toba Beta

32. “I have found that there are two ways of dealing with men. Either you treat them with respect, or you kill them. Anything in between merely breeds resentment and the desire for revenge.” - PAUL KEARNEY

33. “Karma comes after everyone eventually. You can't get away with screwing people over your whole life, I don't care who you are. What goes around comes around. That's how it works. Sooner or later the universe will serve you the revenge that you deserve.” - Jessica Brody

34. “How very kind of her, ' I said. 'I must remember to send her a card.'I'd send her a card alright. It would be the Ace of Spades, and I'd mail it anonymously from somewhere other than Bishop's Lacey.” - Alan Bradley

35. “She smiles at our husband as she moves, and he blushes, overcome by her beauty. But I know what her smile really means...Her smile is her revenge.” - Lauren DeStefano

36. “...There,in his foul, stinking cellar, our offended, down-trodden and ridiculed mouse immerses himself in cold, venomous and, cheifly, everlasting spite. For forty years on end he will remember the offence, down to the smallest and most shameful detail, constantly adding more shameful details of his own, maliciously teasing and irritating himself with his own fantasies. He himself will be ashamed of his fantasies, but nevertheless he will remember all of them, weighing them up and inventing all sorts of things that never happend to him, on the pretext that they too could have happend and he'll forgive nothing. Probably he'll start taking his revenge, but somehow in fits and starts, pettily, anonymously, from behind the stove, believing neither in his right to take revenge, nor in the success of his revenge and knowing beforehand that he will suffer one hundred times more from every single one of his attempts at revenge than the object of his revenge, who, most likely, wont't give a damn.” - Dostoyevsky Fyodor

37. “I want to be able to see stuff," Iggy said. "Like I used to, when I was little. And I want to be able to totally kick Jeb's butt.” - James Patterson

38. “You are not permitted to kill a woman who has wronged you, but nothing forbids you to reflect that she is growing older every minute.” - Ambrose Bierce

39. “When one woman strikes at the heart of another, she seldom misses, and the wound is invariably fatal.” - Choderlos de Laclos

40. “Granny Weatherwax was often angry. She considered it one of her strong points. Genuine anger was one of the world's greatest creative forces. But you had to learn how to control it. That didn't mean you let it trickle away. It meant you dammed it, carefully, let it develop a working head, let it drown whole valleys of the mind and then, just when the whole structure was about to collapse, opened a tiny pipeline at the base and let the iron-hard stream of wrath power the turbines of revenge.” - Terry Pratchett

41. “She'd said that revenge was not sweet, that it was bloody. She was wrong. It *was* sweet. For one fleeting, glorious moment you felt incredible satisfaction. Then it was gone, empty, and you had to go on living. The power high that filled me with her light had faded, and all I tasted now were bitter ashes.” - Sunny

42. “No hard feelings about that time in the Crucible when you mixed my salts and I was nearly blind for a day. No. No, really, drink up!” - Patrick Rothfuss

43. “I don't like it, but my hands are tied. I just want you to know this: if I ever get the chance to betray you, I will. If the opportunity arises to pay you back, I'll take it. You'll never be able to trust me.” - Darren Shan

44. “Revenge is not always sweet, once it is consummated we feel inferior to our victim.” - Emil Cioran

45. “Lord of the Muck.” - Ottilie Weber

46. “It was time to bring out the world destructive weapons. It was now time to hit him where it would do the biggest damage, his pride.” - Ottilie Weber

47. “I will hurt you for this. I don't know how yet, but give me time. A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you'll know the debt is paid.” - George R.R. Martin

48. “Anger, resentment and jealousy doesn't change the heart of others-- it only changes yours.” - Shannon Alder

49. “For some offenses, there is only retribution." Nora Hawks, "One Woman's Vengeance.” - Dennis R. Miller

50. “Abbey," Sarah said, "life is to be lived. If you're living, you're going to stumble along the way.""All the time?" Abigail lept to her feet and began to pace. "I have such a bad temper and when I was in my teens, I wasn't above using my gift for revenge. None of you did that."Joley slowly raised her hand, sliding down in the chair as she did so. Hannah followed suit, though she didn't look in the least remorseful. Sarah shrugged her shoulders and raised her hand and glared at Elle, who just grinned sheepishly and put up a couple of fingers. Carol tossed her head and waved her arm with gusto.” - Christine Feehan

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

52. “Revenge is what I want. Nothing but pure unadulterated revenge. But my mother brought me up to be a lady.” - J.P. Donleavy

53. “Deep inside her (ih her harrowed soul) she felt a glowing ember of fury at the man responsible for this. Tha man who had put her in this position. She looked at the pistol lying beside the basin, and knew that if he were here, she would use it on him without a moment's hesitation. Knowing that made her feel confused about herself. It also made her feel a little stronger.” - Stephen King

54. “Revenge proves its own executioner.” - John Ford

55. “It was one lesson he never forgot.You don't sit back when you or a loved one is being assaulted.And you don't act like the goverment with their "proportional responses" and all that nonsense.If someone hurts you,mercy and pity must be put aside,You eliminate the enemy.You scorch the earth.” - Harlan Coben

56. “... Life can be savored only if you look to the future and leave vengeance to the gods” - David Gemmell

57. “...it is by our actions that we are destroyed or saved. The choice is ours.” - Sherrilyn Kenyon

58. “To seek greatness is the only righteous vengeance.” - Criss Jami

59. “I'd be glad of a retaliation that wouldn't recoil on myself; but treachery and violence are spears pointed at both ends: they wound those who resort to them, worse than their enemies.” - Emily Brontë

60. “Oh, I didn't think it wise to hide it. Might not be able to find it again," I say, cheerily. "It's sitting in plain view on your chair in the great hall. I do hope that was the best place for it.” - Libba Bray

61. “They say the only way you can truly kill a Celestra is by fire. I would gladly lend myself to the flames to peer down eternally over this sinful disgrace of a planet that houses cowards such as these.” - Addison Moore

62. “Then haste we down to meet thy friends and foes;To place thy friends in ease, the rest in woes.For here though death doth end their misery,I'll there begin their endless tragedy.” - Thomas Kyd

63. “Someone once said that nothing costs more and yields less benefit than revenge,” Aomame said.“Winston Churchill. As I recall it, though, he was making excuses for the British Empire’s budget deficits. It has no moral significance.” - Haruki Murakami

64. “Fate had a cruel sense of humor. It had been all his fault, anyway, whatever Mick or Gillia told him. Careless preoccupation and utter stupidity. Boyhood ignorance and negligence. He was only getting what he deserved, over and over again, for the rest of his life. If only in his dreams.” - V.S. Carnes

65. “The whole thing becomes like this evil enchantment from a fairy tale, but you're made to believe the spell can never be broken.” - Jess C. Scott

66. “At this hourLie at my mercy all mine enemies.” - William Shakespeare

67. “If you seek revenge, it means you're scared or you feel guilty for what happened in some way. It's okay to be angry with someone, but don't think about revenge. It's like a disease that eats you up.” - David Miller

68. “Justice is about making them pay for [her] pain. Revenge is making them pay for yours.” - Erica O'Rourke

69. “Vae Victus -- suffering to the conquered. Ironic that now I was the one suffering. Not anything as pedestrian as physical pain. Rather the cruel jab of impotent anger -- the hunger for revenge. I didn't care if I was in Heaven or Hell -- all I wanted was to kill my assassins. Sometimes you get what you wish for. The Necromancer Mortanius offered me a chance for vengeance. And like a fool, I jumped at his offer without considering the cost. Nothing is free, not even revenge.” - Denis Dyack

70. “When it comes to exacting revenge, it gets harder and harder to top yourself each successive time” - Josh Stern

71. “There are six reasons anyone does anything: Love. Faith. Greed. Boredom. Fear..." he said, ticking them off on his fingers; but he lingered on the last, drawing a deep breath before he said, "Revenge.” - Ally Carter

72. “Why can't I solve this problem by killing someone? she though petulantly, then comforted herself with the mantra that had kept her going in prison: "Soon all the humans will be dead," she said, droning in the time-honored fashion of gurus everywhere. "And then Opal will be loved."And even if I'm not loved, she thought, at least all the humans will be dead.” - Eoin Colfer

73. “Shamefully, all of us have wanted revenge on someone at some point for something. I've lived since before man and buffalo roamed this small planet. I have survived the beginning, bloom, and death of countless enemies, civilizations, and people. And the one truth I have learned most during all of these centuries is the old Japanese proverb. If you sit by the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by.” - Sherrilyn Kenyon

74. “Two things you should never do in a hurry: make up and revenge.” - Iveta Cherneva

75. “The only way to truly be safer, was to accept the dark, to walk in it with eyes wide open, to be a part of it. To keep your enemies close.” - CJ Roberts

76. “Often those that criticise others reveal what he himself lacks.” - Shannon L. Alder

77. “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.” - Orochimaru

78. “He felt like the last bullet in a gun meant for revenge, sealed with a kiss.” - Pete Wentz

79. “Revenge did that to a person; it caused even the insecure and the meek to take foolhardy chances. After a while it became a way of life; the risks felt as natural as drawing a breath.” - Alice Hoffman

80. “Yeah, reflections! The same, but different. Like twins - like blood brothers! And when you need something bad done, like punishment or revenge, you'll just ask me, and I will do it -” - Sonya Hartnett

81. “I've been in the revenge buisness for so long, now that it's over I don't know what to do with the rest of my life.” - William Goldman

82. “It's my opinion, with some people, just knowing they are alone, living inside of their own miserable, self hating, dysfunctional mind, with their own immature, insecure, self pitying self is its own revenge. Their existence is their karma.” - Colleen Truscott Fry

83. “Shall each man," cried he, "find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone? I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn. Man! You may hate, but beware! Your hours will pass in dread and misery, and soon the bolt will fall which must ravish from you your happiness forever. Are you to be happy while I grovel in the intensity of my wretchedness? You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains—revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food! I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery. Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful. I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with its venom. Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict.” - Mary Shelley

84. “There is nothing more entertaining then leaving someone speechless. Yet, there is nothing sadder than realizing that person was incapable of retaining half of what you said, and will repeat the story all wrong to someone else.” - Shannon L. Alder

85. “Mary Fisher lives in a High Tower, on the edge of the sea: she writes a great deal about the nature of love. She tells lies.” - Faye Weldon

86. “If you have to injure someone, then make it so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.” - Michael Scott

87. “It was a cruel fate, Yet not so cruel as Mago's will be. I promise you that, by the old gods and the new, by the lamb god and the horse god and every god that lives. I swear by the Mother of Mountains and the Womb of the World. Before I am done with them, Mago and Ko Jhaqo will plead for the mercy they showed Eroeh.” - George R.R. Martin

88. “I wanted it more than enough. I wanted it with every fiber of my being, and I had the power to make it happen - to make it so I was the one Drew wanted, not Lizzie” - Michelle Madow

89. “Revenge is a dish best eaten cold and there is no sweeter dish than outliving an enemy” - Don Darkes

90. “No matter what you say, or how much you talk, someone isn’t really forgiven until you can stand beside them without wanting to slap them in the face.” - Alan Heathcock

91. “Laws on killing, even God's demands, didn't allow for peace. Not always. There'd still be pain; missing that child would break her parents' hearts. But what Helen knew, what she'd seen in those woods, would be too much for them, for everybody.” - Alan Heathcock

92. “The only reason I haven't shot you yet is because he's the one who should get to do it," I say. "Stay away from him or I'll decide I no longer care.” - Veronica Roth

93. “Revenge! The stupidest motive on earth, just an attempt to change history.” - Josephine Humphreys

94. “Still smiling she carried the TV through the doorway; then she gave it the strongest heave she could manage... When it hit Alan's oversized brick barbecue and the glass front of the TV smashed, Leslie didn't think she'd ever heard a more satisfying sound.” - Jude Deveraux

95. “Vengeance is a delicious fruit, which must be allowed to ripen in order that it may be fully enjoyed.” - Émile Gaboriau

96. “Everyone might think Lizzie's an angel, but I knew better. She was selfish, and she was going to pay.” - Michelle Madow

97. “But life wasn't a fairy tale, and I had no problem doing what was necessary to get what I wanted, even if it meant playing dirty.” - Michelle Madow

98. “Takan had never truly defeated Zyid. Zyid had given his life to calm Takan's soul.” - Isamu Fukui

99. “-I'm going to heaven! I replied.-What do you mean, you're going to heaven?-Let me pass.-And what will you do in heaven, my poor child?-I'm going there to kill God, who killed Daddy.” - Tom Reiss

100. “Oh, how I longed to burst through the doors and go walking through the streets, with my hands open, like weapons!” - Marcel Béalu

101. “The black widow, who had dispatched a lover or two, was sought out for her wisdom. The young spider asked her, "Did you keep his harmful secret under the threat of danger, or did you spin a web so confusing that he didn't know if you were friend or foe? Did you release him from the web and your presence or will you give another the venom in which to finish him?" The black widow was quiet and then said, "All of the above.” - Donna Lynn Hope

102. “We soon fall asleep in each other’s arms, knowing to myself that I captured her, like a prisoner in a cage.” - Fernando Lachica

103. “There is no such thing as justice, all the best that we can hope for is revenge.” - Emilie Autumn

104. “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

105. “I thought my heart was pure. We do like to have such good opinions of our own motives when we're about to do something harmful, to someone else.” - Margaret Atwood

106. “But what is a memorial, when you come right down to it, but a commemoration of wounds endured? Endured, and resented. Without memory, there can be no revenge.” - Margaret Atwood