Pope Benedict XVI Quotes

Justice should not admit a public's thirst for pure revenge.

I don't believe in vengeance. Really, when all is said and done, I probably don't believe in punishment.

Today we have to learn all over again that love for the sinner and love for the person who has been harmed are correctly balanced if I punish the sinner in the form that is possible and appropriate.

Without justice, the most heinous crimes go unpunished; victims are unable to obtain redress, and peace remains an elusive goal, since impunity generates more hatred, leading to acts of revenge and more suffering.

Forgiveness is spiritual. Punishment is legal," Leo says. "They're not mutually exclusive.

I don't believe in an eye for an eye. I believe in two eyes for an eye.

Justice that love gives is a surrender, justice that law gives is a punishment.

I can establish the expectation of retributive justice. Have we done that? No.

If you are serving justice to one person, those who have been affected should also be served some form of justice.

When critics sit in judgment it is hard to tell where justice leaves off and vengeance begins.

To punish the oppressors of humanity is clemency; to forgive them is cruelty.

As a lawyer, as a private citizen, you see a lot of injustice. You see a lot of people who should have been punished and are not, and people who were punished wrongfully are not vindicated. Fiction is sort of a way to set the record straight, and let people at least believe that justice can be achieved and the right outcomes can occur.

Nothing can make injustice just but mercy.

One threatens the innocent who spares the guilty.

I want no mercy. I want justice, justice, justice.

The injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.

The severest justice may not always be the best policy.

It's important we understand our system seeks justice and not revenge.

Is it to be thought unreasonable that the people, in atonement for wrongs of a century, demand the vengeance of a single day?

An act of justice closes the book on a misdeed; an act of vengeance writes one of its own

It does not render justice to the victims, but rather fosters vengeance.

It is essential that justice be done, and it is equally vital that justice not be confused with revenge, for the two are wholly different.

There are some duties we owe even to those who have wronged us. There is, after all, a limit to retribution and punishment.

The difference between justice and forgiveness: To be just is to condemn the fault and, because of the fault, to condemn the doer as well. To forgive is to condemn the fault but to spare the doer. That's what the forgiving God does.

Justice is a judgement that is both fair and forgiving. Justice is not done until everyone is satisfied, even those who offend us and must be punished by us. You can see, by what we have done with these two boys, that justice is not only the way we punish those who do wrong. It is also the way we try to save them.