QuoteProject
Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.
Samuel Johnson
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Revenge is impulsive and personal, while vengeance is a more measured response tied to justice.

In this quote, Samuel Johnson differentiates between two responses to wrongdoing: revenge and vengeance. Revenge arises from strong emotions and personal feelings, often leading to destructive actions, while vengeance is depicted as a legitimate act of justice, where wrongs are addressed through appropriate means, suggesting a societal or moral context instead of personal grievance.

Themes

RevengeVengeanceJusticePassionInjury

In practice

Example use cases

A speaker discussing the pitfalls of seeking revenge during a motivational seminar.

More from Samuel Johnson

To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
Samuel JohnsonRead
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
Samuel JohnsonRead
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Samuel JohnsonRead
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
Samuel JohnsonRead
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
Samuel JohnsonRead
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
Samuel JohnsonRead

Similar quotes

The way you are with others every day, regardless of their status, is the true test of faith.
Brennan ManningRead
The ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery, are not Churches in the proper sense; however, those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church.
Pope Benedict XviRead
I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.
EpictetusRead
Make women rational creatures, and free citizens, and they will quickly become good wives; - that is, if men do not neglect the duties of husbands and fathers.
Mary WollstonecraftRead
The opposite of compromise is character.
Frederick DouglassRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.