36 Quotes About Violence

In a world where violence often makes headlines, it's crucial to take a step back and reflect on its impact and implications. From historical figures to contemporary thinkers, many have weighed in on the subject, offering insights that range from poignant to provocative. In this blog post, we've curated a collection of 36 powerful quotes about violence. Whether you're seeking wisdom, solace, or a spark for deeper introspection, these quotes will challenge your perspectives and perhaps inspire a commitment to peace. Dive in and discover the diverse voices that have grappled with the complexities of violence throughout history.

1. “This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence.” - Ben Elton

2. “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” - Mahatma Gandhi

3. “Poverty is the worst form of violence.” - Mahatma Gandhi

4. “I get it,' said the prisoner. 'Good Cop, Bad Cop, eh?'If you like.' said Vimes. 'But we're a bit short staffed here, so if I give you a cigarette would you mind kicking yourself in the teeth?” - Terry Pratchett

5. “Humm humm haaa. Rahmumm humm haaaa," intoned Opal, finishing her chant. "Peace be inside me, tolerance all around me, forgiveness in my path. Now, Mervall, show me where the filthy human is so that I may feed him his organs.” - Eoin Colfer

6. “Physical love is unthinkable without violence.” - Milan Kundera

7. “Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause.” - Chris Hedges

8. “In the preface of "The Rifles" "Another rule we followed was never kill an animal that we were not going to use for food or clothing." Barnabas Piryuaq"Well, in those high latitudes we found such quantities of seals and walruses that we simply did not know what to do with them.There were thousands and thousands lying there; we walked among them and hit them on the head, and laughed heartily in the abundance which God had created." Jan Welzi 1933. ” - William T. Vollmann

9. “Honey, no offense, but sometimes I think I could shoot you and watch you kick.” - Raymond Carver

10. “If there is some corner of the world which has remained peaceful, but with a peace based on injustices the peace of a swamp with rotten matter fermenting in its depths - we may be sure that that peace is false. Violence attracts violence. Let us repeat fearlessly and ceaselessly: injustices bring revolt, either from the oppressed or from the young, determined to fight for a more just and more human world.” - Helder Camara

11. “Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” - Robert A. Heinlein

12. “A sensibility that wails almost exclusively over the enemies of liberty seems suspect to me. Stop shaking the tyrant's bloody robe in my face, or I will believe that you wish to put Rome in chains.” - Maximilien Robespierre

13. “To break the silence the old man said the first thing that came to his mind: "Loneliness is a type of violence.” - Jonathan Messinger

14. “Get what you can with words, because words are free, but the words of an armed man ring that much sweeter.” - Joe Abercrombie

15. “People have a greater tolerance for evil than for violence. If crooked gamboling, thieving and robing are covered over folks will tolerate it longer than out right violence, even when the violence may be cleansing.” - Louis L'Amour

16. “If a violent person wishes to attack us, let us send him a gentle phrase as this will defuse his violence.” - Samael Aun Weor

17. “We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood,the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work.” - Oscar A. Romero

18. “We must overturn so many idols, the idol of self first of all, so that we can be humble, and only from our humility can learn to be redeemers, can learn to work together in the way the world really needs. Liberation that raises a cry against others is no true liberation. Liberation that means revolutions of hate and violence and takes away lives of others or abases the dignity of others cannot be true liberty. True liberty does violence to self and, like Christ, who disregarded that he was sovereign becomes a slave to serve others.” - Oscar A. Romero

19. “Our age has need of violence," he writes. And he is violence.” - Anais Nin

20. “It is not what you can do for your country, but what you can do for all of mankind.” - Mike Norton

21. “To me, the best zombie movies aren’t the splatter fests of gore and violence with goofy characters and tongue in cheek antics. Good zombie movies show us how messed up we are, they make us question our station in society… and our society’s station in the world. They show us gore and violence and all that cool stuff too… but there’s always an undercurrent of social commentary and thoughtfulness.” - Robert Kirkman

22. “If man is not made in the image of God, nothing then stands in the way of inhumanity. There is no good reason why mankind should be perceived as special. Human life is cheapened. We can see this in many of the major issues being debated in our society today: abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, the increase of child abuse and violence of all kinds, pornography ... , the routine torture of political prisoners in many parts of the world, the crime explosion, and the random violence which surrounds us.” - Francis A. Schaeffer

23. “I chose not to fight it. Eating them...is my revenge.” - J.H. Myn

24. “Oh, they don't allow the Bible in Heaven, Miss Mary...It contains far too much sex and violence.” - Bryan Talbot

25. “Before I met No I thought that violence meant shouting and hitting and war and blood. Now I know that there can also be violence in silence and that it’s sometimes invisible to the naked eye. There’s violence in the time that conceals wounds, the relentless succession of days, the impossibility of turning back the clock. Violence is what escapes us. It’s silent and hidden. Violence is what remains inexplicable, what stays forever opaque...My mother stands there at the living room door with her arms by her sides. And I think that there's violence in that too - in her inability to reach out to me, to make the gesture which is impossible and so forever suspended.” - Delphine de Vigan

26. “It is a terrible thing to witness death by violence, a thousand times worse to hold a man’s life in your own hands and to willingly, consciously take it from him. Acknowledged or not, something noble has been scoured from your insides, never to be replaced. You saved a friend’s life, and there lies ample justification. But never peace, never balance, never the same. At least that is how it seems to me.” - Andrew Levkoff

27. “Now, with regard to the people who have done things we call "terrorism," I'm confident they have been expressing their pain in many different ways for thirty years or more. Instead of our empathically receiving it when they expressed it in much gentler ways -- they were trying to tell us how hurt they felt that some of their most sacred needs were not being respected by the way we were trying to meet our economic and military needs -- they got progressively more agitated. Finally, they got so agitated that it took horrible form.” - Marshall B. Rosenberg

28. “H.I.V.E. will not tolerate unauthorized violence between students, especially students that have only been here for a matter of hours.""I was just introducing myself," Otto replied innocently. "I'm afraid I appear to have inadvertently offended them somehow.” - Mark Walden

29. “If anyone hits me, they can expect to be hit back, and harder. I never turn the other cheek because in my experience that doesn’t work.” - Alice Bag

30. “There is nothing more pathetically sad than a parent who teaches a child not to hit by spanking them. Well, that, and adults who think hitting someone will solve a problem.” - Anitra Lynn McLeod

31. “When I say that we must establish values with originate in sisterhood, I mean to say that we must not accept, even for a moment, male notions of what non-violence is. These notions have never condemned the systematic violence against us. The men who hold these notions have never renounced the male behaviours, privileges, values and conceits which are in and of themselves acts of violence against us.” - Andrea Dworkin

32. “1. So, disturbed kids are taking guns to school and killing teachers and classmates. We better make sure kids can’t get guns.2. So, disturbed kids are taking guns to school and killing teachers and classmates. We better find out what’s making these kids want to kill, fix that, and then they won’t want to use guns to kill teachers and classmates.See what I did there? Which statement makes more sense? Don’t bring up politics. Don’t refer to statistical data. Don’t nervously look at your cell phone. Just read the two statements and be honest with yourself. We can do better. We’re smarter than this. WAKE UP.” - Aaron B. Powell

33. “The way I’d put it,” said Makin, “is that Rike can’t make an omelet without wading thigh deep in the blood of chickens and wearing their entrails as a necklace.” - Mark Lawrence

34. “The dark-haired girl behind Winston had begun crying out: 'Swine! Swine! Swine!', and suddenly she picked up a heavy Newspeak dictionary and flung it at the screen.” - George Orwell

35. “Control is violence; cooperation is friendship.” - Bryant McGill

36. “We live in a culture of violence.” - Bryant McGill