Quotes About Retribution

Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes, said Chuchundra, more sorrowfully than ever.

You'll be beaten for this in the morning; but I may as well give you something on account now.

It was like a dream, a beautiful, soothing dream of late autumn: low, gray skies, smell of woodsmoke, fallen leaves crackling beneath my feet, and somewhere out there, in the farmsteads and plantations ahead of me, swift retribution! Freedom! The bloody work of the Lord!

Mackenzies buried a rapist at a crossroads, with a spear thrust in the soil above; and they buried him living when they could, as a sacrifice to turn aside the anger of the Earth Powers.

Confucius: If you sit by the river for long enough, the body of your enemy will float by.

The urge for retribution depends upon our not seeing the underlying causes of human behavior.

Whether it is useful to emphasize the punishment of certain criminals—rather than their containment or rehabilitation—is a question for social and psychological science. But it seems clear that a desire for retribution, arising from the idea that each person is the free author of his thoughts and actions, rests on a cognitive and emotional illusion—and perpetuates a moral one.

For 'tis the sport to have the engineerHoist with his own petard.

A man has carried off your mistress, a man has seduced your wife, a man has dishonored your daughter; he has rendered the whole life of one who had the right to expect from heaven that portion of happiness God has promised to every one of his creatures, an existence of misery and infamy; and you think you are avenged because you send a ball through the head, or pass a sword through the breast, of that man who has planted madness in your brain, and despair in your heart.

The wicked do not die in that way: God seems to take them under his protection to use them as the instruments of his vengeance.

He told himself that it was the hatred of men, not the vengeance of God, which had plunged him into the abyss where he now found himself.

At the end of every prayer introduced the entreaty oftener addressed to man than to God: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. Yet in spite of his earnest prayers, Dantes remained a prisoner

So it was that Dantes, during the Hundred Days and after Waterloo, remained under lock and key, forgotten, if not by men, at least by God.

When Danglars witnessed Napoleon's return to France, he realized the full effect of the blow he had directed against Dantès: his denunciation had been accurate and, like all men with a certain natural aptitude for crime and only average understanding of ordinary life, he described this strange coincidence as 'a decree of Providence'.

human justice is sadly lacking in consolation; it can only sheed blood in exchange for blood.

And now, madame, try to make your peace with God, for you are judged by men!

Lebt wohl, Güte, Menschenfreundlichkeit, Dankbarkeit... lebt wohl, ihr sämtlichen Gefühle, die das Herz aufgehen lassen! Ich habe mich an die Stelle der Vorsehung gesetzt, um die Guten zu belohnen... Jetzt möge der Gott der Rache mir sein Amt abtreten, um die Bösen zu bestrafen!

adiós, bondad, humanidad y gratitud… , adiós, todos los sentimientos que ennoblecen el alma. He querido ocupar el puesto de la Providencia para recompensar a los buenos… , ahora cédame el suyo el Dios de las venganzas para castigar a los malvados.

It is wicked of you to call on the wrath of God to satisfy your jealousy!

The brothers De Witt have been judged by the people, said Gryphus; you call that murdered, do you? well, I call it executed.

God may sometimes appear to forget, when his justice is resting; but the time always comes when he remembers

Death to the traitors! To the gallows with Cornelius de Witt! Death! death!

Et maintenant, dit l'homme inconnu, adieu bonté, humanité, reconnaissance... adieu à tous les sentiments qui épanouissent le coeur! ... Je me suis substitué à la Providence pour récompenser les bons... que le Dieu vengeur me cède sa place pour punir les méchants! (p. 396)

Fui un insensato -dijo-, en no haberme arrancado el corazón el día que jure vengarme.