(I)f we are going to be kind, let it be out of simple generosity, not because we fear guilt or retribution.

There is no elegance in hate, but there is tremendous beauty in the unintended revenge of living well and being happy.

Systems of retributive justice work well as long as they are proportional. However, in complex societies, where the State is the arbiter of justice, proportionality may break down: offences created by the elite few become...

I stole their future from them; I can only being to repay by seeing what I can learn from their past.

For some offenses, there is only retribution.” Nora Hawks, “One Woman’s Vengeance.

My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!

Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.

Franval, who was now absolutely at ease, thought on,y of upsetting others; he behaved in his vindictive, unruly, impetuous way when he was disturbed; he desired his own tranquility again at any price, and in...

One can say that Javert is our conscience. The ever lurking presence of the law and our own condemnation. The tension between who we were and who we are and who we can be. Javert...

Yes,” said Locke.”Yes, Master Ibelius. I’m going to put that fucker in the dirt as deeply as any man who’s ever been murdered, ever since the world began.

I am convinced that imprisonment is a way of pretending to solve the problem of crime. It does nothing for the victims of crime, but perpetuates the idea of retribution, thus maintaining the endless cycle...

It’s difficult to turn from the promise of retribution. Even if it’s the barest promise.

It’s easier to fall back into the same old patterns of hate and retribution, because at least then we’re doing something.

Somewhere deep inside, his humanity had been shaken by something so unnatural, so foreign in its essence, his very being withdrew from it…

Remember Father, evil is simply ‘live’ spelt backwards.” Hellbound

A society built upon a foundation of vengeance is a society doomed to destroy itself.

Aw, you goddammed bastards! They’re shootin’ him while he’s down! Son of a bitch!”The ship stopped moving, and Alex said in a quiet voice, “Suck on this, asshole.”The ship vibrated for half a second, then...

Karma has been a pop culture term for ages. But really, what the heck is it?Karma is not an inviolate engine of cosmic punishment. Rather, it is a neutral sequence of acts, results, and consequences.Receiving...

Justice isn’t about fixing the past; it’s about healing the past’s future.

We all fall down.

Vengeance would have us assault an enemy’s pride to beat him down. But vengeance hides a dangerous truth, for a humbled foe gains patience, courage, strength, and greater determination.

Time and Nemesis will do that which I would not, were it in my power remote or immediate. You will smile at this piece of prophecy – do so, but recollect it: it is justified...

But men often mistake killing and revenge for justice. They seldom have the stomach for justice.

No one is more vulnerable to fear than a man who keeps another in bondage. He will do anything to prevent justice from rearing its head — for he knows well what he deserves at...

Just because I do not accept the teachings of the devotaries does not mean I’ve discarded a belief in right and wrong.””But the Almighty determines what is right!””Must someone, some unseen thing, declare what is...

We are all guilty of sin, error, and moments of sheer stupidity; none of us should be casting stones. The occasional arced pebble might be overlooked.

I went to a gun range and shot a man made out of paper. That paper man must have had a brother, and I fear one day that paper man’s brother is going to shoot...

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.

He could not believe that any of them might actually hit somebody. If one did, what a nowhere way to go: killed by accident; slain not as an individual but by sheer statistical probability, by...

Not everything has to be an act of grand karmic retribution. This, my friends, is determined by where you presently stand, and which direction you choose to walk.

Vengeance, retaliation, retribution, revenge are deceitful brothers; vile, beguiling demons promising justifiable compensation to a pained soul for his losses. Yet in truth they craftily fester away all else of worth remaining.

Tommy, by any chance did he stumble upon an open window?

Since governments take the right of death over their people, it is not astonishing if the people should sometimes take the right of death over governments.”[On Water]

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...

Vengeance is a monster of appetite, forever bloodthirsty and never filled.

In it’s purest form, an act of retribution provides symmetry. The rendering payment of crimes against the innocent. But a danger on retaliation lies on the furthering cycle of violence. Still, it’s a risk that...

Remembering the treatment that had been accorded the Knights and soldiers of St. Elmo, the Maltese inhabitants of Senglea took no prisoners. Hence there arose the expression (used in Malta to this day) ‘St. Elmo’s...

The drive was strangely calm. Deathly calm. Dark, light …. dark, light …. dark again as we glided under repeat street lighting. Four men sitting silently in four leather seats. Could hear the creaks. The...

To punish someone for your own mistakes or for the consequences of your own actions, to harm another by shifting blame that is rightly yours; this is a wretched and cowardly sin.

In every life, there comes a day of reckoning – a time when unsettled scores demand retribution, and our own lies and transgressions are finally laid bare.

You can be the hunter, or you can be the hunted.

He is not, he hopes, a sentimentalist. He tries not to sentimentalize the animals he kills, or to sentimentalize Bev Shaw. He avoids saying to her ‘I don’t know how you do it,’ in order...

Many myths and religions have some kind of threat of retribution from their god or gods, and their doctrines warn of the dangers of doing various forbidden things. Why? Because memes involving danger are the...

A system of justice does not need to pursue retribution. If the purpose of drug sentencing is to prevent harm, all we need to do is decide what to do with people who pose a...

An eye for an eye, and the whole world would be blind.