Judith Butler Quotes

On many issues, empathy can pull us in the wrong direction. The outrage that comes from adopting the perspective of a victim can drive an appetite for retribution.

the latent causes of faction [which causes men] to vex and oppress each other.

If you're a baboon on the Serengeti, and you're miserable, it's almost certainly because some other baboon has had the free time and energy to devote to making you miserable.

Every novel deals with social problems. It can't help it because the protagonist must come in conflict with his group. So the author has to offer an analysis of how the group and the protagonist fit. Otherwise, the reader will just say, "This makes no sense," and will put it away.

It doesn't do you any service to demonize any group of people. It's much better to try and understand from the inside.

War is a foolish, childish, animalistic, unthinking, unintelligent way of trying to accomplish a purpose.

In a civil war… every side is wrong. It’s hopeless to try to untangle it. Everyone is a victim.

Dealing w/ Hamas is like dealing w/ a crazy woman who’s trying to kill u – u can only hold her wrists so long before you have to slap her.

So, rather than trying to humbly mix with the rest of the world, we are forcing ourselves upon it. We seem to create conflicts with everyone.

As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up reasons to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion?

The first time you blow someone away is not an insignificant event. That said, there are some *******s in the world that just need to be shot. There are hunters and there are victims. By your discipline, you will decide if you are a hunter or a victim.

With problems and issues groups face- there is an enormous disconnect between understanding and doing.

I was just trying to get his attention!" the man protested at the top of his lungs. "If he'da listened, I wouldn'ta had to bash him.

I have observed that whenever you try to hit somebody, there is a tendency for them to try to hit you back.

Polarization affects families and groups of friends. Its a paralyzing situation. A civil war of opinion.

I got used to dealing with groups of boys and getting on with life in unpleasant circumstances and being smart and funny and subversive at the expense of authority.

They benefit from all these people, "I just don't like the fighting. Could you stop the shouting? All I want to do is just get along." They're easily able to bulldoze large groups of people into laying down and letting it happen in the hope that this will be peace, in the hope that there will be no confrontations, in the hope that the shouting will stop.

There was violence because first of all, there were ethnic differences and names. If you were small, they called you a runt, and you had to do something about that even if there were five other guys.

We were going to kill ourselves in trying to kill each other.

I wasn't a predator. I didn't pick on other people all right, but people didn't beat me up.

I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us.

I always try and tell dudes that are younger than me is that because of the Internet everyone can just be by themselves doing something, but the importance of a group is being able to have some sort of competition.

People that want to control words will never ever try to break up, like, a fight on a subway. They will never confront an aggressive person on the bus. They prefer their fights to be easy.

A duel is just two murders who agree to take turns trying to kill each other.

None of us is in a position to eliminate war, but it is our obligation to denounce it and expose it in all its hideousness. War leaves no victors, only victims.