Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Revenge
Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.
Bacon—Of Revenge.
Women do most delight in revenge.
Sir Thos. Browne—Christian Morals. Part III. Sec. XII.
Sweet is revenge—especially to women.
Byron—Don Juan. Canto I. St. 124.
’Tis more noble to forgive, and more manly to despise, than to revenge an Injury.
Benj. Franklin—Poor Richard. (1752).
Revenge is profitable.
Gibbon—Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Ch. XI.
It [revenge] is sweeter far than flowing honey.
Homer—Iliad. XVIII. 109.
Behold, on wrong
Swift vengeance waits; and art subdues the strong.
Homer—Odyssey. Bk. VIII. L. 367. Pope’s trans.
At vindicta bonum vita jucundius ipsa nempe hoc indocti.
Revenge is sweeter than life itself. So think fools.
Juvenal—Satires. XIII. 180.
Minuti
Semper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas
Ultio.
Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind.
Juvenal—Satires. XIII. 189.
Vindicta
Nemo magis gaudet quam fœmina.
No one rejoices more in revenge than woman.
Juvenal—Satires. XIII. 191.
Which, if not victory, is yet revenge.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. II. L. 105.
Revenge, at first though sweet,
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. IX. L. 171.
Je ne te quitterai point que je ne t’aie vu pendu.
I will not leave you until I have seen you hanged.
Molière—Le Medecin Malgré Lui. III. 9.
One sole desire, one passion now remains
To keep life’s fever still within his veins,
Vengeance! dire vengeance on the wretch who cast
O’er him and all he lov’d that ruinous blast.
Moore—Lalla Rookh. The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan.
Sæpe intereunt aliis meditantes necem.
Those who plot the destruction of others often fall themselves.
Phædrus—Fables. Appendix. VI. 11.
’Tis an old tale, and often told;
But did my fate and wish agree,
Ne’er had been read, in story old,
Of maiden true betray’d for gold,
That loved, or was avenged, like me!
Scott—Marmion. Canto II. St. 27.
Vengeance to God alone belongs;
But, when I think of all my wrongs
My blood is liquid flame!
Scott—Marmion. Canto VI. St. 7.
Inhumanum verbum est ultio.
Revenge is an inhuman word.
Seneca—De Ira. II. 31.
If I can catch him once upon the hip,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
Merchant of Venice. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 47.
If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge.
Merchant of Venice. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 55.
Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.
Merchant of Venice. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 334.
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
Titus Andronicus. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 38.
Malevolus animus abditos dentes habet.
The malevolent have hidden teeth.
Syrus—Maxims.
Odia in longum jaciens, quæ reconderet, auctaque promeret.
Laying aside his resentment, he stores it up to bring it forward with increased bitterness.
Tacitus—Annales. I. 69.
Souls made of fire and children of the sun,
With whom Revenge is virtue.
Young—The Revenge. Act V.