Quotes About Violence

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit.  You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.  ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.


In some cases nonviolence requires more militancy than violence.  ~ Cesar Chavez


So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private citizens will occasionally kill theirs.  ~ Elbert Hubbard


I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed, without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government.  ~ Martin Luther King Jr.


Violence in the voice is often only the death rattle of reason in the throat.  ~ John Frederick Boyes


People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.  ~ George Orwell


The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of non-violence has been the organization of violence.  ~ Joan Baez


Never strike your wife - even with a flower.  ~ Hindu proverb


I don't even call it violence when it's in self defense; I call it intelligence.  ~ Malcolm X


I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence.  ~ John Lennon


The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi


If it's natural to kill, how come men have to go into training to learn how?  ~ Joan Baez


Violence is essentially wordless. and it can begin only where thought and rational communication have broken down,  ~ Thomas Merton


Those who abjure violence can only do so by others committing violence on their behalf.  ~ George Orwell


Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause.  ~ Chris Hedges


Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -how passionately I hate them!  ~ Albert Einstein


Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi


Violence is just, wher kindness is vain.  ~ Corneille


Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.  ~ Salvor Hardin


I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.  ~ Hunter S. Thompson


Poverty is the worst form of violence.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi


How fortunate it was for the world that when these great trials came upon it there was a generation that terror could not conquer and brutal violence could not enslave.  ~ Winston Churchill


Nothing is so dangerous as that of violence employed by well-meaning people for beneficial objects.  ~ Alexis de Tocqueville


Violence is the repartee of the illiterate.  ~ George Bernard Shaw


Violence is man re-creating himself.  ~ Frantz Fanon


Art should cause violence to be set aside and it is only art that can accomplish this.  ~ Leo Tolstoy


Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.  ~ Martin Luther King Jr.


Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.  ~ Thomas A. Edison


Violence is never the answer but sometimes, like with cockroaches, it is the only possible response.  ~ Tanya Huff


Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson


The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.  ~ Martin Luther King Jr


Root out the violence in your life, and learn to live compassionately and mindfully. Seek peace. When you have peace within, real peace with others is possible.  ~ Thich Nhat Hanh


I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi


Violence is as American as cherry pie.  ~ H. Rap Brown


Do not conquer the world with force, for force only causes resistance. Thorns spring up when an army passes. Years of misery follow a great victory. Do only what needs to be done without using violence.  ~ Lao Tzu


Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat for it is momentary.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi


We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.  ~ Martin Luther King Jr.


I first learned the concepts of non-violence in my marriage.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi


All violence, all that is dreary and repels, is not power, but the absence of power.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson


I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.  ~ Mahatma Ghandi


The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.  ~ David Friedman


Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men.  ~ Augustine of Hippo