Lauren Oliver Quotes

One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that 'violence begets violence.' I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure - and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

An eye for an eye only leads to more blindness.

An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

Nothing inspires forgiveness quite like revenge.

An eye for any eye makes the whole world blind.

Too often, we think that, when we have a problem with our lives or our country, that the way to fix it is to take an eye for an eye. That doesn't help anything or anyone.

The potential beauty of human life is constantly made ugly by man's ever recurring song of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever rising tides of revenge. Man has never risen above the injunction of the lex talionis: "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." In spite of the fact that the law of revenge solves no social problems, men continue to follow its disastrous leading. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path.

You ask when is it that you can say yes we have had enough. It is enough revenge and I think now we have restored the equilibrium. It never happens!

We can forgive you for killing our children, but we can never forgive you for making us kill your children.

The whole human race loses by every act of personal vengeance.

Judith took a deep breath. "Aye, you captured Iain's wife," she said again. "But he married your daughter.

By annihilating somebody else in whatever way, then that person feels that they also have the ability to, then, restore the person.

The problem with revenge is that it never evens the score. It ties both the injured and the injurer to an escalator of pain. Both are stuck on the escalator as long as parity is demanded, and the escalator never stops.

The South is the home of 'an eye for an eye.' 'Turning the other cheek'? The South can't see that.

Answer a violent action with another action still more violent.

Revenge does not long remain unrevenged.

We cannot get stuck in a cycle of violence which cannot be broken.

Some day we may be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our children, but we will never forgive them for making us kill some of theirs.

Life for life, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, wounds equal for equal

Blood can not restore blood and government should not act for revenge.

Not an eye for an eye, not a tooth for a tooth; that is completely wrong. But for an eye, both the eyes; for a tooth, the whole jaw

Justice is inextricably linked to revenge, which is both morally right and a deeply internalized instinct as innate to man as breathing, having sex, falling in love, and making war.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

You must understand that if you indulge in revenge exclusively, it will come back to you, because those who are revenged upon - even if the whole world believes they deserve it - will in some way express exactly what was expressed towards them. Why perpetuate suffering, no matter how justified it may seem to be, if it only perpetuates suffering in the future for future generations?