Edgar Allan Poe Quotes
A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Cask of Amontillado." Godey's Lady's Book, vol. 33, no. 5, Nov. 1846, p. 216.
After the FBI had been spying on him for years. He was convicted of mail fraud for allegedly defrauding one man of $25. He spend 2 years in Federal prison and then was pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge. When he was released, he was deported.
The British Government had offered a £20,000 prize for the first person who developed a practical method of determining longitude at sea. Most of the university, military and religious scientists of the day worked on astronomical instrument approaches but Harrison, a relatively unknown clockmaker with no social or scientific credentials, came up with an incredibly accurate clock that would function at sea and immediately calculate the longitude. The scientific establishment refused to certify Harrison for the price even after the British Navy had determined that his method worked. At the urging of the King, Parliament voted him the money.
This proverb only makes sense in the light of understanding the Arab concept of revenge—“blood.” In a rural desert environment where little can be expected of government, the Arabs have developed a law enforcement and peace keeping mechanism which while primitive from modern standards, nevertheless worked to some degree. It is that revenge—“blood” is a moral necessity and obligation of all people, and revenge is not limited by time or to the individuals involved in the first incidence. The immediate family are the first to exact revenge, but the extended family follows and often the entire clan. Sometimes revenge is tribal or even national. Anyone who fails to revenge a member in his group is not only a disgrace, but is a clear and present danger to the group because then they can be attacked with impunity. So revenge is a strong obligation of the group members and blood must be paid with blood no matter how many generations it may take. The only thing that keeps me and my family safe, is the surety what whosoever kills one of us will themselves be killed or if they die a natural death we will take revenge on one of the evildoers relatives and no one is exempt. Crime must never pay!
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. He is also generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. Poe was the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.
