78 Powerful Revenge Quotes

In the intricate tapestry of human emotions, revenge emerges as a potent and compelling theme, resonating across cultures and eras. Whether driven by betrayal, injustice, or personal slight, the desire for vengeance often evokes mixed feelings—both empowering and consuming. If you've ever found yourself drawn to the raw intensity of this emotion, you're not alone. Our carefully curated collection of the top 78 powerful revenge quotes invites you to explore the nuanced perspectives of writers, philosophers, and thinkers who have grappled with this complex sentiment. Through their words, we gain insight into the duality of revenge, contemplating its allure and its consequences. Dive in, reflect, and perhaps find words that echo your own unspoken sentiments.

1. “Stronger than lover's love is lover's hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.” - Euripides

2. “It is always betterto avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.For every one of us, living in this worldmeans waiting for our end. Let whoever canwin glory before death. When a warrior is gone,that will be his best and only bulwark.” - Seamus Heaney

3. “I will see you bereft of all that you have, of home and happiness and beautiful things. I will see your nation cast down and your allies drawn away. I will see you as alone and friendless and wretched as am I; and then you may live as long as you like, in some dark and lonely corner of the earth, and I shall call myself content. -Lien, Albino Celestial (Dragon) ” - Naomi Novik

4. “His jest shall savour but a shallow wit, when thousands more weep than did laugh it.” - William Shakespeare

5. “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

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

7. “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

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

9. “If I murmur in the least at affliction, if I am in any way uncharitable, if I revenge my own case, if I do anything purely to please myself or omit anything because it is a great denial, if I trust myself, if I take any praise for any good which Christ does by me, or if I am in any way proud, I shall act as my own and not God’s.” - Jonathan Edwards

10. “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

11. “If anger were mileage, I'd be a very frequent flyer, right up there in First Class.” - Gina Barreca

12. “It's hard to be done a favor by a man you hate. It's hard to hate him so much afterwards. Losing an enemy can be worse than losing a friend, if you've had him for long enough.” - Joe Abercrombie

13. “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

14. “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

15. “When you begin a journey of revenge, start by digging two graves: one for your enemy, and one for yourself.” - Jodi Picoult

16. “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!” - William Goldman

17. “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

18. “Time collapsed into a delicate dark pencil brushed against oureyebrows, the emergent rumble of crowds gathering above our heads. Weslid into our costumes. Pirate, outlaw, futuristic rebels. Red,purple, gold. Chains hanging from our belts, tight black trousers. Wewere moved upstairs, closer to the stage. Finally, we heard thecannon's roar: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome... Tanzarrecording artists... THE MASTER PLANETS!" The world shot forward. Westepped into the spotlight.” - Donald Gallinger

19. “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

20. “You do not know me for sure, yet you feel yourself better than me.But if you ever deliberately provoke me, in a way trying to hurt me, I'm so worried that you will die, or injured with heart full of revenge.The kind of revenge which you will never be able to fully retaliate, a revenge that will only add to next innocent victims..in between you and me.” - Toba Beta

21. “Six months ago when she first came up with the idea to kill Wilson, back when she was living in Memphis, she'd started going to church again. Since she was spending so much time thinking about sinister things, the least she could do, she reasoned, was to think about God and his love twice a week at church so that she wouldn't become a total sociopath. And rather than kill other people who were stand-ins for the person she really wanted to kill, like serial killers did, she'd be kind and generous to others and hone in on the one who deserved to die. And her plan had worked extremely well. Since she'd started planning to kill Wilson, and then decided to destroy his family instead, she felt no animosity toward anyone but him. Almost none at all!” - Elizabeth Stuckey-French

22. “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.” - Marcus Aurelius

23. “...to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.” - Herman Melville

24. “Men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.” - Niccolo Machiavelli

25. “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

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

27. “Funny thing about revenge. It could make a killer out of a nun.” - Kevis Hendrickson

28. “The person who hurt you--who raped you or killed your family--is also here. If you are still angry at that person, if you haven't been able to forgive, you are chained to him. Everyone could feel the emotional truth of that: When someone offends you and you haven't let go, every time you see him, you grow breathless or your heart skips a beat. If the trauma was really severe, you dream of revenge. Above you, is the Mountain of Peace and Prosperity where we all want to go. But when you try to climb that hill, the person you haven't forgiven weighs you down. It's a personal choice whether or not to let go. No one can tell you how long to mourn a death or rage over a rape. But you can't move forward until you break that chain.” - Leymah Gbowee

29. “You think I don’t know pain?” Puck shook his head at me. “Or loss? I’ve been around a lot longer than you, prince! I know what love is, and I’ve lostmy fair share, too. Just because we have a different way of handling it, doesn’t mean I don’t have scars of my own.”“Name one,” I scoffed. “Give me one instance where you haven’t—”“Meghan Chase!” Puck roared, startling me into silence. I blinked, and he sneered at me. “Yeah, your highness. I know what loss is. I’ve loved thatgirl since before she knew me. But I waited. I waited because I didn’t want to lie about who I was. I wanted her to know the truth before anything else.So I waited, and I did my job. For years, I protected her, biding my time, until the day she went into the Nevernever after her brother. And then youcame along. And I saw how she looked at you. And for the first time, I wanted to kill you as much as you wanted to kill me.” - Julie Kagawa

30. “Revenge is like sex, Mister Dresden. It's best when it comes on slow, quiet, until it all seems inexorable.” - Jim Butcher

31. “There is some comfort in killing that which has hurt you, but it is cold comfort. It'll destroy things inside of you that the original pain wouldn't have harmed. Sometimes it's not a question of whether a piece of your soul is going to go missing, only which piece it's going to be.” - Laurell K. Hamilton

32. “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

33. “Once bitten twice shy? Sure, but... why not get a bigger dog and bite them back?” - A.A. Bell

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

35. “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

36. “One day, after practice, he came up behind me, tapped me on the shoulder, and as I turned around, he sucker-punched me and relocated my nose to the other side of my face. What up, Mr. Drum Captain? How's your drumming going, bro? Played any arenas lately?” - Tommy Lee

37. “For maybe the first time he could remember, he was very seriously thinking about how to best kill someone he’d never even seen.” - Yukako Kabei

38. “The only way to gall and fret effectively is for yourself to be a good and honest man.” - Diogenes

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

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

41. “Tell me, tutor,' I said. 'Is revenge a science, or an art?” - Mark Lawrence

42. “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

43. “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

44. “It is unfortunate that in most cases when the sins of the father fall on the son it is because unlike God, people refuse to forgive and forget and heap past wrongs upon innocent generations.” - E.A. Bucchianeri

45. “Only remember this: to seek justice is a good and noble thing, to seek revenge out of hatred is something that wiil devour your very soul.” - James Mace

46. “No one messes around with a nerd’s computer and escapes unscathed.” - E.A. Bucchianeri

47. “Revenge is sweet and not fattening.” - Alfred Hitchcock

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

49. “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” - Marcus Aurelius

50. “For the longest time I studied revenge to the exclusion of all else. I built my first torture chamber in the dark vaults of imagination. Lying on bloody sheets in the Healing Hall I discovered doors within my mind that I’d not found before, doors that even a child of nine knows should not be opened. Doors that never close again. I threw them wide.” - Mark Lawrence

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

52. “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

53. “You tell your brother he's gonna pay for that car in silver.” - Neal Shusterman

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

55. “Revenge was a dish best eaten cold, but eight years between was arctic.” - Jonathan Kellerman

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

57. “I won't argue with you, but still it's secretly turning me into a hateful person. I figure that the best revenge, though, is to leave people to their own devices, and they will make their own lives hell.” - Deedee Ramone

58. “I was, a near grown man, sat in his dank, dark and rickety digs, feverishly hovering about the glare of a computer screen like a disorientated moth, one searching for a flaming light of recognition from someone/anyone!” - Tom Conrad

59. “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

60. “Vendetta is the word, except it isn't strong enough.” - Sister Souljah

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

62. “Death, there will be death, aye. Your lordship lost a son at the Red Wedding. I lost four upon the Blackwater. And why? Because the Lannisters stole the throne. Go to King’s Landing and look on Tommen with your own eyes, if you doubt me. A blind man could see it. What does Stannis offer you? Vengeance. Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your brothers. Vengeance for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance!” - George R.R. Martin

63. “The master and mistress of the house and the rest of the Blood -even the Crux himself- brought our food, poured the wine, did our bidding. The centerpiece was a roasted stag. crowned with gilded antlers and stuffed with songbirds; they had hunted well. We were forbidden to kill the deer that fattened on our coleworts and stole our grain, and the venison tasted all the better for the salt of revenge.” - Sarah Micklem

64. “Vengeance is a monster of appetite, forever bloodthirsty and never filled.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

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

66. “Utu--Maori revenge. 'Do everything well, boy. Do it better than them. Be a better rugby player, better at your job. Outshine them everywhere. Tramp on their pride. Go far, and leave them sniveling in your dust.” - Kris Pearson

67. “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

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

69. “Concealing himself from his father's wrath, behind the barn with wick turned low and his face two inches from the rough sawtooth page, Young Crawford had read of these atrocities in Beadle's Dime Library and fantasized about "calling out" the brutal old man who had sired him, "throwing down" on him with the "hogleg" he wore high on his hip, and blasting him into hell; after which he would go "on the scout," separating high-interest banks and arrogant railroad barons from their soiled coin and distributing it among their victims, or failing that into his own pockets and saddle pouches and living the "high Life" in saloons and "dance halls" where beautiful women in brief costumes admired his straight legs and square jaw and told him of the men who had "ruined" them (he knew not just how, only that the act was disgraceful and its effects permanent), whereupon he sought the blackguards out and deprived them of their lives. There was usually profit involved; invariably the men were thieves who lived in close proximity to their "ill-gotten booty," and didn't it say somewhere in Scripture that robbing a thief was no sin? If it didn't, it should have.” - Loren D. Estleman

70. “Simply put, the best revenge is to live an awesome life.” - Ramon Bautista

71. “Revenge, the sweetest morsel to the mouth that ever was cooked in hell.” - Walter Scott

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

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

74. “Storytelling? God started that. Discovery. Lust. Murder. Revenge. Power. Sin. Redemption. Forgiveness. Miracles. We simply retell the stories in the language of our generation.” - Dennis R. Miller

75. “Kindly permit me to tell you, sir, that I hate you. I hate you and your child, as I hate the life of which you are the representative: cheap, ridiculous, but yet triumphant life, the everlasting antipodes and deadly enemy of beauty. I cannot say I despise you - for I am honest. You are stronger than I. I have no armour for the struggle between us, I have only the Word, avenging weapon of the weak. Today I have availed myself of this weapon. This letter is nothing but an act of revenge - you see how honourable I am - and if any word of mine is sharp and bright and beautiful enough to strike home, to make you feel the presence of a power you do not know, to shake even a minute your robust equilibrium, I shall rejoice indeed. -” - Thomas Mann

76. “Revenge is never pretty and often leaves you empty.--Alexandria "Dria" McAndrews” - C.J. Ellisson

77. “And so we know the satisfaction of hate. We know the sweet joy of revenge. How it feels good to get even. Oh, that was a nice idea Jesus had. That was a pretty notion, but you can't love people who do evil. It's neither sensible or practical. It's not wise to the world to love people who do such terrible wrong. There is no way on earth we can love our enemies. They'll only do wickedness and hatefulness again. And worse, they'll think they can get away with this wickedness and evil, because they'll think we're weak and afraid. What would the world come to?But I want to say to you here on this hot July morning in Holt, what if Jesus wasn't kidding? What if he wasn't talking about some never-never land? What if he really did mean what he said two thousand years ago? What if he was thoroughly wise to the world and knew firsthand cruelty and wickedness and evil and hate? Knew it all so well from personal firsthand experience? And what if in spite of all that he knew, he still said love your enemies? Turn your cheek. Pray for those who misuse you. What if he meant every word of what he said? What then would the world come to?And what if we tried it? What if we said to our enemies: We are the most powerful nation on earth. We can destroy you. We can kill your children. We can make ruins of your cities and villages and when we're finished you won't even know how to look for the places where they used to be. We have the power to take away your water and to scorch your earth, to rob you of the very fundamentals of life. We can change the actual day into actual night. We can do these things to you. And more.But what if we say, Listen: Instead of any of these, we are going to give willingly and generously to you. We are going to spend the great American national treasure and the will and the human lives that we would have spent on destruction, and instead we are going to turn them all toward creation. We'll mend your roads and highways, expand your schools, modernize your wells and water supplies, save your ancient artifacts and art and culture, preserve your temples and mosques. In fact, we are going to love you. And again we say, no matter what has gone before, no matter what you've done: We are going to love you. We have set our hearts to it. We will treat you like brothers and sisters. We are going to turn our collective national cheek and present it to be stricken a second time, if need be, and offer it to you. Listen, we--But then he was abruptly halted.” - Kent Haruf

78. “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