quotations about violence
This is what "original sin" means to me -- not that we inherit guilt, but that our world is so immersed in violence that we can't help but participate in it.
LINDSAY PARIS-LOPEZ
"Are We Really Ready for New Life in Christ?", Sojourners, April 28, 2017
Violence is man re-creating himself.
FRANTZ FANON
The Wretched of the Earth
As religious leaders, we are called, therefore, to unmask the violence that masquerades as purported sanctity and is based more on the "absolutizing" of selfishness than on authentic openness to the Absolute. We have an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God: Holy is his name, he is the God of peace.
POPE FRANCIS
Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Participants in the International Peace Conference, April 28, 2017
Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause.
CHRIS HEDGES
attributed, What About War
Peace alone, therefore, is holy, and no act of violence can be perpetrated in the name of God, for it would profane his name.
POPE FRANCIS
"Pope Francis in Egypt", National Catholic Register, April 28, 2017
The question begs to be asked: Why do we as a society so repeatedly and in so many ways throw images of real and fictional violence all over our screens and newspapers? Why do we allow our society to give the male perpetrators of violence such an outrageous amount of attention? We know that this, in effect, rewards the violence, and we also know it encourages more copycat violence.
JOHN NASSIVERA
"Media and male aggression", Rutland Herald, April 26, 2017
It's so easy for people to come to the conclusion that he was a monster for what he did. But the reality is, violence is a part of so many people's lives and it is essential that we not categorize this as something that only evil, inhumane people do.
ATTIYA KHAN
"In a story of survival, a different way to understand domestic abuse", Maclean's, April 27, 2017
Return not violence for violence.
ABU HANIFA
attributed, Day's Collacon
Jesus empowered us to choose mercy on the cross. The crucifixion exposes human violence -- the kind that continues to put the living image of God to death -- for the atrocity that it is. In Jesus, we recognize the ways in which we all participate in systems of death. And in Jesus, we learn that even killers are to be forgiven.
LINDSAY PARIS-LOPEZ
"Are We Really Ready for New Life in Christ?", Sojourners, April 28, 2017
A person who commits a violence against another is obviously in need of medical care.
MACK REYNOLDS
"Gun for Hire"
The use of violence as an instrument of persuasion is therefore inviting and seems to the discontented to be the only effective protest.
WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS
Points of Rebellion
Our tax dollars fund warped priorities, and our culture of vengeance infects our hearts and minds, lying to us and telling us that some violence is righteous, and that some people are beyond redemption.
LINDSAY PARIS-LOPEZ
"Are We Really Ready for New Life in Christ?", Sojourners, April 28, 2017
I wouldn't use physical violence even if I could, because one of my romantic ideas is that physical violence is beneath the dignity of a man, and that whatever you get by physical aggression costs more than it is worth.
REX STOUT
Too Many Cooks
For he will rescue the poor who cry for help,
Also the lowly one and whoever has no helper.
He will have pity on the lowly and the poor,
And the lives of the poor he will save.
From oppression and from violence he will rescue them,
And their blood will be precious in his eyes.
BIBLE
Psalms 72:12-14
To paraphrase several sages: Nobody can think and hit someone at the same time.
SUSAN SONTAG
Regarding the Pain of Others
Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another.
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Domestic violence can no longer be pushed into the too-hard basket. It requires a united approach from police, governments, health authorities, the broader community, the media -- all of us. Because nobody, absolutely nobody, should feel unsafe in their own home.
JASON SHIELDS
"Daily Matters: Violence is everyone's problem", Sunraysia Daily, April 1, 2017
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
ANONYMOUS
often dubiously attributed to George Orwell
They had learned that the act of violence is the act of weakness, and that the spirit's strength lies in holding fast to the truth.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
"The Eye of the Heron"
It is essential that we reject any "absolutizing" that would justify violence. For violence is the negation of every authentic religious expression.
POPE FRANCIS
"Pope Francis in Egypt", National Catholic Register, April 28, 2017