Themes

"Necessitas est lex temporis et loci"

"He detested those in the Order who dressed in three layers of clothing or who wore soft clothes without necessity. As for “necessity” not based on reason but on pleasure, he declared that it was a sign of a spirit that was extinguished. “When the spirit is lukewarm,” he said, “and gradually growing cold as it moves from grace, flesh and blood inevitably seek their own interests. When the soul finds no delight, what is left except for the flesh to look for some? Then the base instinct covers itself with the excuse of necessity, and the mind of the flesh forms the conscience."

"The law of necessity dispenses with things which otherwise are not lawful to be done."

"Necessity — thou best of peacemakers, As well as surest prompter of invention."

"The strong are sometimes wrong but the weak are never free."

"Hold it wise … To make a virtue of necessity."

"Like strength is felt from hope, and from despair."

"Souls made of fire and children of the sun, With whom Revenge is virtue."

"The way of revenge lies in simply forcing ones way into a place and being cut down. There is no shame in this. By thinking that you must complete the job you will run out of time. By considering things like how many men the enemy has, time piles up; in the end you will give up. No matter if the enemy has thousands of men, there is fulfillment in simply standing them off and being determined to cut them all down, starting from one end. You will finish the greater part of it."

"Somebody once wrote, "Revenge is a dish that has to be eaten cold." Hot as you are, you're liable to end up with indigestion."

"Entweihte Götter! Helft jetzt meiner Rache! Bestraft die Schmach, die hier euch angetan! Stärkt mich im Dienste eurer heil'gen Sache! Vernichtet der Abtrünn'gen schnöden Wahn! Wodan! Dich Starken rufe ich! Freia! Erhabne, höre mich! Segnet mir Trug und Heuchelei, dass glücklich meine Rache sei!"

"Erräth'st du auch dieser Raben Geraun'? Rache riethen sie mir!"

"Odia in longum jaciens, quæ reconderet, auctaque promeret."

"It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing."

""Get even with the people who have screwed you," Donald has said, but often the person he's getting revenge on is somebody he screwed over first- such as the contractors he's refused to pay or the niece and nephew he refused to protect. Even when he manages to hit his target, his aim is so bad that he causes collateral damage. Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York and currently the de facto leader of the country's COVID-19 response, has committed not only the sin of insufficiently kissing Donald's ass but the ultimate sin of showing Donald up by being better and more competent, a real leader who is respected and effective and admired. Donald can't fight back by shutting Cuomo up or reversing his decisions; having abdicated his authority to lead a nationwide response, he no longer has the ability to counter decisions made at the state level. Donald can insult Cuomo and complain about him, but every day the governor's real leadership further reveals Donald as a petty, pathetic little man- ignorant, incapable, out of his depth, and lost in his own delusional spin. What Donald can do in order to offset the powerlessness and rage he feels is to punish the rest of us. He'll withhold ventilators or steal supplies from states that have not groveled sufficiently. If New York continues not to have enough equipment, Cuomo will look bad, the rest of us be damned. Thankfully, Donald doesn't have many supporters in New York City, but even some of those will die because of his craven need for "revenge." What Donald thinks is justified retaliation is, in this context, mass murder."

"Malevolus animus abditos dentes habet."

"You'll never know How I watched you from the shadows as a child You'll never know How it feels to be the one who's left behind You'll never know the days, the nights The tears, the tears I've cried But now my time has come And time, time is not on your side [...] How I watched you from the shadows as a child You'll never know How it feels to get so close And be denied It's a gold and honey trap I've got for you tonight Revenge, it's a kiss, this time I won't miss Now I've got you in my sight With a Golden eye"

"She pays him in his own coin."

"Revenge is the naked idol of the worship of a semi-barbarous age."

"Revenge is the prime ingredient in the Fountain of Youth. I have kept myself alive for hundreds of years with a steady diet of jealousy and hate, awaiting the day when I would finally eclipse your family's thieving reputation."

"At the end of the universe lies the beginning of vengeance."

"Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head."

"I ain't a killa, but don't push me. Revenge is like the sweetest joy next to getting pussy."

"If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him."

"Revenge is the foundation of justice. Justice began with revenge, and revenge is still the only justice some beings can ever hope for."

"Salarino: Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh? What's that good for? Shylock: To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we shall resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

"'Tis an old tale, and often told; But did my fate and wish agree, Ne'er had been read, in story old, Of maiden true betray'd for gold, That loved, or was avenged, like me!"

"Vengeance to God alone belongs; But, when I think of all my wrongs My blood is liquid flame!"

"Revenge is the sweetest morsel to the mouth, that ever was cooked in hell."

"A man with no friends, only live for revenge Live his life off the henge, cut, through a thousand men Blade swing with the force of a cyclone Cut crystal and bone, pistol and chrome Stand in my path, you're a dead man I cut the whole world in half for the Number One headband Quest of a lonely soul, on a lonely road"

"To take revenge is the of Ninurta."

"...revenge. ...This reaction is still admired by most people, when the injury is great, and such as to arouse moral horror in disinterested people. Nor can it be wholly condemned, for it is one of the forces generating punishment, and punishment is something necessary. Moreover, from the point of view of mental health, the impulse to revenge is likely to be so strong that, if allowed no outlet, a man's whole outlook on life may become distorted and more or less insane."

"...revenge is a very dangerous motive.... it allows a man to be the judge in his own case, which is exactly what the law tries to prevent. Moreover it is usually an excessive motive; it seeks to inflict more punishment than is desirable. Torture, for example, should not be punished by torture, but the man maddened by lust for vengeance will think a painless death too good for the object of his hate. Moreover, and it is here that Spinoza is in the right - a life dominated by single passion is a narrow life, incompatible with every kind of wisdom. Revenge as such is therefore not the best reaction to injury."

"Inhumanum verbum est ultio."

"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked"

"Revenge is like a poison. It can take you over, and before you know it, it can turn you into something ugly."

"Revenge is a fool's game. It's a luxury we can't afford."

"Forgiveness is better than revenge."

"There is no finer revenge than that which others inflict on your enemy. Moreover, it has the advantage of leaving you the role of a generous man."

"Sæpe intereunt aliis meditantes necem."

"Well, I'm not one to sit and spin Because living well is the best revenge."

"Always, also, it remains true, that it is more noble to forgive than to take revenge; and that, in general, we ought too much to despise those who wrong us, to feel the emotion of anger, or to desire revenge."

"To take revenge is an abomination to Ninurta."

"The whole idea of revenge and punishment is a childish day-dream. Properly speaking, there is no such thing as revenge. Revenge is an act which you want to commit when you are powerless and because you are powerless: as soon as the sense of impotence is removed, the desire evaporates also."

"people think that they have to use their brains to figure out how best to retaliate or how best to make war. And it brings us to total hopelessness."

"...there is a perpetual struggle between manifested chaos and the unmanifested. It is the struggle of the Forces of Light with the dark forces. Christ Himself actively resisted evil... he drove the merchants from the Temple, and all his severe accusations against the scribes and Pharisees... If we try to read objectively the words... attributed to Christ, we shall see a Teaching which is severe in its mercy. Therefore, the words "resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also... If this law of Karma, "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," is inevitable and exact justice, it by no means follows that we ourselves, personally, should attempt to fulfil it in this way. If we do so, we shall never emerge from the magic circle of karma. Indeed, we must forgive our personal enemies, as who knows but that the blow one receives is a return blow, well-deserved under the law of Karma? By returning such a blow with another and with a feeling of revenge in our heart, we do not outlive this karma, but we continue and even intensify it in the worst way for ourselves. Moreover, by forgiving our enemies we decrease the amount of evil in space and become immune against many blows. Similarly, let us understand the words "Love thine enemies." However, with all this, we must resist evil, if we do not want to be entirely overwhelmed by it. (26 May 1934)"

"To avenge a wrong done to you, is to rob yourself of the comfort of crying out against the injustice of it."

"Minuti Semper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Ultio."

"Vindicta Nemo magis gaudet quam fœmina."

"Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD"