Henri Nouwen Quotes

Liberty for wolves is death to the lambs.

When people say there is too much violence in my books, what they are saying is there is too much reality in life.

Men are fighting... because they are convinced that the extermination of adversaries is the only means of promoting their own well-being.

The world is too violent right now.

Hate and force cannot be in just a part of the world without having an effect on the rest of it.

Let us not be afraid to see the hatred that consumes the lives of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who sit around us and wait for the moment when their hands will be able to reach our blood.

They are a scurvy race and simply savages. We could beat hell out of them.

Violence is the tax that Moslems must pay for gaining authority on earth.

… without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house.... Let us not be afraid to see the hatred that accompanies and consumes the lives of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who sit all around us and wait for the moment when their hands will be able to reach our blood.

The scariest monsters are human beings and what we will do to each other.

To what extent has each one of us contributed to the rise in violence and hatred?

Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear. So violence isn't merely organized butchery in the name of God, in the name of society or country. Violence is much more subtle, much deeper, and we are inquiring into the very depths of violence.

Violence commands both literature and life, and violence is always crude and distorted.

The condition of man... is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.

The world is not violent. But there is a lot of violence in it.

War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow man.

Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.

If you look at terrorists, they really have no sense of humor.

The Islamists will try to spoil everything for everyone.

But there is a difference here: When Jewish children are murdered, Arabs celebrate the deed. The death of an Arab child is no cause for celebration in Israel.

There was nothing there but black water and American fire power.

Violence ravaged my life. I was a victim of hatred, and I have dedicated my life to reversing that hatred.

As long as you persecute people, you will actually throw up terrorism.

Violence is both unavoidable and unjustifiable.

Everybody's scared for their ass. There aren't too many people ready to die for racism. They'll kill for racism but they won't die for racism.