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Quotes about Violence

In former times the chief method of justifying the use of violence and thereby infringing the law of love was by claiming a divine right for the rulers: the Tsars, Sultans, Rajahs, Shahs and other heads of states.

Count Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoi or Tolstoy : Russian novelist & philosopher
Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910)
Source: A Letter to a Hindu
Contributed by: Tim Volkov. More quotes added by Timmy Gun from all sources
More quotes about: government, violence, state
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The kind of violence one should fear is always quiet and comes all wrapped up in words like Love until you live with it daily and you value only that which is valuable to the violator.

Shauna Singh Baldwin
Source: English Lessons and Other Stories
Contributed by: loneturtle. More quotes added by loneturtle from all sources
More quotes about: violence, abuse, control, oppression
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When one uses the simple monosyllabic 'France' one thinks of France as a unit, an entity. When. . . we say 'France sent her troops to conquer Tunis'—we impute not only unity but personality to the country. The very words conceal the facts and make international relations a glamorous drama in which personalized nations are the actors, and all too easily we forget the flesh-and- blood men and women who are the true actors.. . if we had no such word as 'France' . . . then we should more accurately describe the Tunis expedition in some such way as this: 'A few of...thirty-eight million persons sent thirty thousand others to conquer Tunis.' This way of putting the fact immediately suggests a question, or rather a series of questions. Who are the 'few'? Why did they send the thirty thousand to Tunis? And why did these obey? Empire-building is done not by 'nations,' but by men. The problem before us is to discover the men, the active, interested minorities in each nation, who are directly interested in imperialism and then to analyze the reasons why the majorities pay the expenses and fight the wars.

Parker Moon
Source: Imperialism and World Politics (New York: Macmillan, 1930), p. 58.
Contributed by: peter. More quotes added by peter from all sources
More quotes about: politics, war, violence, government, abstraction
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Planning other people’s actions means to prevent them from planning for themselves, means to deprive them of their essentially human quality, means enslaving them.

Ludwig von Mises : Gaia Explorer
Ludwig von Mises
Source: Mises, Ludwig Von (1962). The Ultimate foundation of Economic Science (2nd ed.). Foundation of Economic Education: Irvington-on-Hudson, NY. p. 129
Contributed by: peter. More quotes added by peter from all sources
More quotes about: government, state, violence, freedom, liberty, slavery
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It is a double-edged makeshift to entrust an individual or a group of individuals with the authority to resort to violence. The enticement implied is too tempting for a human being. The men who are to protect the community against violent aggression easily turn into the most dangerous aggressors. They transgress their mandate. They misuse their power for the oppression of those whom they were expected to defend against oppression. The main political problem is how to prevent the police power from becoming tyrannical. This is the meaning of all the struggles for liberty. The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and is its concern for freedom from the state. The history of the West, from the age of the Greek πá½¹λις [city-state] down to the present-day resistance to socialism, is essentially the history of the fight for liberty against the encroachments of the officeholders.

Ludwig von Mises : Gaia Explorer
Ludwig von Mises
Source: Mises, Ludwig Von (1962). The Ultimate foundation of Economic Science (2nd ed.). Foundation of Economic Education: Irvington-on-Hudson, NY. p. 99-100
Contributed by: peter. More quotes added by peter from all sources
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Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d’être to the imperfection of man and can attain their end, the elimination of man’s innate impulse to violence, only by recourse to violence, the very thing they are called upon to prevent.

Ludwig von Mises : Gaia Explorer
Ludwig von Mises
Source: Mises, Ludwig Von (1962). The Ultimate foundation of Economic Science (2nd ed.). Foundation of Economic Education: Irvington-on-Hudson, NY. p. 99
Contributed by: peter. More quotes added by peter from all sources
More quotes about: government, state, violence, paradox
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Democratic law does not say, "Thou shalt not kill". Instead, it designates certain people who have the right to kill -- soldiers and State police. Democratic law does not order, "Thou shalt not steal". It says that only certain people have the right to steal -- tax and customs agents. What does "power to the people" mean when the people enjoy fewer rights than their supposed servants?

Christian Michel
Source: http://bastiat.net/en/Bastiat2001/christian.michel.html
Contributed by: peter. More quotes added by peter from all sources
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Politics does not exist to eliminate violence but to legalise it. The only people who suggest making violence illegal are libertarians, and that is why libertarian principles are the most advanced in the evolution of humanity.

Christian Michel
Source: http://bastiat.net/en/Bastiat2001/christian.michel.html
Contributed by: peter. More quotes added by peter from all sources
More quotes about: politics, violence, libertarian
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Whatever the problem, a gun is not the answer.  A gun is only the seed of more guns and the harvest will come.

Laura Teresa Marquez
Source: Early Morning Conversation
Contributed by: Jim. More quotes added by Jim from all sources
More quotes about: war, violence, peace, world peace
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"Looking at why people treat each other so violently. We've always known that this violence comes from the urge humans fell to control and dominate one another, but only recently have we studied this phenomenon from the inside, from the point of view of the individual's consciousness. We have asked what happens inside a human being that makes him want to control someone else. We have found that when and individual walks up to another person and engages in a conversation, which happens billions of times each day in the world, one of two things can happen. That individual can come away felling string or feeling weak depending on what occurs in the interaction."

"We humans always seem to take a manipulative posture. No matter what the particulars of the situation, or the subject matter, we prepare ourselves to say whatever we want in order to prevail in the conversation. Each of us seeks to find some way to control and thus to remain on top in the encounter. If we are successful, or our viewpoint prevails, then rather than feel weak, we receive a psychological boost."

"In other words we humans seek to outwit and control each other not just because of some tangible goal in the outside world that we're trying to achieve, but because of a lift we get psychologically. This is the reason we see so many irrational conflicts in the world both at the individual level and the level of nations."

"The consensus in this matter is now emerging into public consciousness. We humans are realizing how much we manipulate each other and consequently we're reevaluating our motivations. We're looking for another way to interact. I think this reevaluation will be part of the new world view."

James Redfield : Gaia Child
James Redfield
Contributed by: Brian Schrokosch. More quotes added by Nara-Narayana from this | all sources
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We are effectively destroying ourselves by violence masquerading as love.

Ronnie Laing
Source: http://quotes4all.net/
Contributed by: Ricky Barnes. More quotes added by Naumadd from all sources
More quotes about: love, violence
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There is usually an inverse relationship between the size of a weapon and the moral responsibility practiced by the user.

Laura Teresa Marquez
Source: Early Morning Conversation
Contributed by: Jim. More quotes added by Jim from all sources
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The contradiction of hiring an agency of institutionalized violence to protect us from violence is even more foolhardy than buying a cat to protect one's parakeet.

Linda and Morris Tannehill
Source: p. 41; The Market for LIberty (http://www.mises.org/books/marketforliberty.pdf)
Contributed by: peter. More quotes added by peter from all sources
More quotes about: government, paradox, violence
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If you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world.

 

Dr. Deepak Chopra : MD, endocrinologist, Ayurvedic Medicine, chief of staff New England Memorial Hosp, author
Deepak Chopra
 
Contributed by: Armila. More quotes added by Mila from all sources
More quotes about: violence, hatred, wounding, world, enmit, you and i
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The Iranian Girl

There's a hole in the ground
A moving of earth, now made
A sad depression
Where once she played in
Puddle-rain
Splashing with the joy that comes
From child-like feet

The sound is still here
In the air, the breeze yet carrying
The secret laughter
That haunts the waking hours of those
Who've lost the way

How vain to think that
Memory can be erased

All will remember
No one escapes

I wonder if she saw it
The moment before
Her hair still flying free
The metal catching that last
Pure glint of sun

Did she hear the explosion
That made no sense
Did she feel
Her body come apart
And fall like dust, too soon

Does anyone ask
Whatever she felt, whatever she dreamed
Her dreaming time is gone
And no lofty word of God or
Glory will ever make it right

Dare to listen and you will
Hear her
Dare to open your eyes and see

The Iranian girl
No different
Like you, like me.

Laurence Overmire
Source: Poet, Playwright, Actor, Educator, Genealogist
Contributed by: WideAwake. More quotes added by WideAwake from all sources
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War, hatred, and violence all spring from one infernal idea: that one person, race, creed, or culture is better than another.

Laurence Overmire
Source: Poet, Playwright, Actor, Educator, Genealogist
Contributed by: WideAwake. More quotes added by WideAwake from all sources
More quotes about: war, hatred, violence, race, creed, culture, idea
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"If you try to fix violence with violence, you do nothing but create violence."

Tom DeLonge
Source: Distraction - We Don't Need To Whisper by Angels & Airwaves, Live from San Diego
Contributed by: Candice Pepperall. More quotes added by Candice from all sources
More quotes about: violence, tom, delonge, create, peace, war, hate
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When individuals and groups do not experience being loved -- when whole communities lose hope that anyone cares -- fear and violence are often seized upon as seeming protectors in the form of gangs, mobs, and communal hostility.

John Makransky
Contributed by: Scott T. More quotes added by BlueHwyFlaneur from this | all sources
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One who uses coercion is guilty of deliberate violence. Coercion is inhuman.

"Mahatma" Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi : Indian spiritual and political leader, called Mahatma "great soul"
Gandhi (1869 - 1948)
 
Contributed by: peter. More quotes added by peter from all sources
More quotes about: violence, liberty, coercion
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It is indeed probable that more harm and misery have been caused by men determined to use coercion to stamp out a moral evil than by men intent on doing evil.

F.A. Hayek
 
Contributed by: peter. More quotes added by peter from all sources
More quotes about: coercion, violence, good intentions, morality
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Weapons are instruments of fear; they are not a wise man's tools.
He uses them only when he has no choice.

Lao Tzu : Chinese philosopher & mystic, founder of Taoism
Lao Tzu (c.604 - 531 B.C.)
Source: Tao Te Ching [Text Only], Page: 33
Contributed by: Jessica Farley. More quotes added by Jessica from this | all sources
More quotes about: tao, violence, virtue
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Everything Tolstoy wrote is precious, but I found this final statement of the truth about life as he had come to understand it particularly beautiful and moving.  'That is what I have wanted to say to you, my brothers.  Before I died.'  So he concludes, giving one a vivid sense of the old man, pen in hand and bent over the paper, his forehead wrinkled into a look of puzzlement very characteristic of him, as though he were perpetually wondering how others could fail to see what was to him so clear - that the law of love explained all mysteries and invalidated all other laws.

Malcolm Muggeridge (1903 - 1990)
Source: Unpublished
Contributed by: Jeff Mowatt. More quotes added by Jeff.Mowatt from all sources
More quotes about: law, love, violence, tolstoy
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It is this law of love and its recognition as a rule of conduct in all our relations with friends, enemies and offenders which must inevitably bring about the complete transformation of the existing order of things,
not only among Christian nations, but among all the peoples of the globe

Count Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoi or Tolstoy : Russian novelist & philosopher
Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910)
Source: The Law of Love and the Law of Violence
Contributed by: Jeff Mowatt. More quotes added by Jeff.Mowatt from all sources
More quotes about: love, violence, law
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Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn't wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.

Stephen Mitchell : Gaia Child
Stephen Mitchell
Source: Tao Te Ching
Contributed by: Gaia Team. More quotes added by Gaia Team from this | all sources
More quotes about: weapons, violence, tao, victory
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Violence is a choice masquerading as a necessity.

Steve : World Bridger
Steve Ryals
Source: Drunk with Wonder: Awakening to the God Within
Contributed by: JoAnn SkyWatcher. More quotes added by JoAnn from all sources
More quotes about: violence, choice, necessity, masquerading
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"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget."

arundhati roy
 
Contributed by: Daniel Maurer. More quotes added by Demian from all sources
More quotes about: love, violence, life, joy, beauty, strength
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The recently ended twentieth century was characterized by a level of human rights violations unparalleled in all of human history. In his book Death by Government, Rudolph Rummel estimates some 170 million government-caused deaths in the twentieth century. The historical evidence appears to indicate that, rather than protecting life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of their citizens, governments must be considered the greatest threat to human security.

Hanse-Hermann Hoppe
 
Contributed by: peter. More quotes added by peter from all sources
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We Americans claim to be a peace-loving people. We hate bloodshed; we are opposed to violence. Yet we go into spasms of joy over the possibility of projecting dynamite bombs from flying machines upon helpless citizens. We are ready to hang, electrocute, or lynch anyone, who, from economic necessity, will risk his own life in the attempt upon that of some industrial magnate. Yet our hearts swell with pride at the thought that America is becoming the most powerful nation on earth, and that she will eventually plant her iron foot on the necks of all other nations.

Emma Goldman : US anarchist, born in Russia, wrote essays & autobiography
Emma Goldman (1869 - 1940)
Source: What is Patriotism? (1908 speech)
Contributed by: Barry Tepperman. More quotes added by Barry from all sources
More quotes about: america, violence, power, revolution
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Poverty is the worst form of violence.

"Mahatma" Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi : Indian spiritual and political leader, called Mahatma "great soul"
Gandhi (1869 - 1948)
Source: http://www.ieer.org/latest/oct2quot.html
Contributed by: Leena Prasad. More quotes added by fishridingabike from all sources
More quotes about: poverty, violence, gandhi
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I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.

Martin Luther King, Jr. : American civil rights leader, clergyman, youngest recipient of Nobel Peace Prize in 1964
Martin Luther King Jr (1929 - 1968)
 
Contributed by: Barry Tepperman. More quotes added by Barry from all sources
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