I think that there's something in the American psyche, it’s almost this kind of right or privilege, this sense of entitlement, to resolve our conflicts with violence. There’s an arrogance to that concept if you think about it. To actually have to sit down and talk, to listen, to compromise, that's hard work. Michael Moore
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Isaac Asimov
Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
God hates violence. He has ordained that all men fairly possess their property, not seize it. Euripides
Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself. Lao Tzu
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. Ernst F Schumacher
Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor. Robert A Heinlein, Starship Troopers
I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence. John Lennon
I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil. Albert Einstein
The use of violence as an instrument of persuasion is therefore inviting and seems to the discontented to be the only effective protest. William O Douglas, Points of Rebellion, 1970
Violence has no constitutional sanction; and every government from the beginning has moved against it. But where grievances pile high and most of the elected spokesmen represent the Establishment, violence may be the only effective response. ibid.
Who overcomes by force hath overcome but half his foe. John Milton, Paradise Lost
In some cases nonviolence requires more militancy than violence. Cesar Chavez
Violence is one of the most fun things to watch. Quentin Tarantino
Violence on the streets of the UK – but this time it’s girls fighting in Belfast ... Prearranged teenage fights arranged on social media. Something like two hundred people turned up to watch. Alys Harte, The Rise of Female Violence, BBC 2015
Are us girls getting angrier? And if so, why? ibid.
Over a third of all domestics recorded to the crime survey for England Wales involved a violent woman. ibid.
Indeed, during that extended period of rage that goes by the name of my adolescence, what terrified me most about my father was not the violence I expected him momentarily to unleash upon me, but the violence I wished every night at the dinner table to commit upon his ignorant, barbaric carcass. Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint
In the second it took Hector to release his breath, he saw Ravi jump towards the body, he heard Gary’s furious curse and he saw Harry push past all of them and grab at Hugo. He lifted the boy up in the air, and in shock the boy dropped his hat.
‘Let me go,’ Hugo roared.
Harry set him on the ground. The boy’s face had gone dark with fury. He raised his foot and kicked wildly into Harry’s shin. The speed was coursing through Hector’s blood, the hairs on his neck were upright. He saw his cousin’s raised arm, it spliced the air, and then he saw the open palm descend and strike the boy. The slap seemed to echo. It cracked the twilight. The little boy looked up at the man in shock. There was a long silence. It was as if he could not comprehend what had just occurred, how the man’s action and the pain he was beginning to feel coincided. The silence broke, the boy’s face crumpled, and this time there was no wail; when the tears began to fall, they fell silently.
‘You fucking animal!’ Christos Tsiolkas
That there can be a distinction between a violence which purifies, and is acceptable, and all other forms of violence, which are outlawed, must seem to us the most dangerous concept possible. Only among terrorist circles are differences of kind among acts of violence accepted. Philip Edwards, Tragic Balance in Hamlet
I really couldn’t believe that this could be happening. Everybody was screaming around me. And I was terrified. All I can think of is by God I just couldn’t see. Crazy Love, her, 2007
I had never seen a girl as beautiful as her. ibid. him
I began to drink very heavily. ibid. him
I continued to see him but things kept going downhill. ibid. her
A psychiatrist examined me and put me into a close ward. And they committed me. ibid. him
I then began approaching people to beat her up. ibid. him
He [Bert] threw the liquid [acid] right in my face. ibid. her
These are the scars [shows wrists] when I tried to get a mistrial. ibid. him
I was still in love with her. ibid. him
I represented everybody in the prison. They were all my clients. ibid.
She and I started speaking on the phone. ibid.
Linda, I want to marry you. ibid.
I was gonna go back with him … starting from scratch. ibid.
I don’t like violence, John, John. I hate it. In fact I detest it. My Name is Lenny 2017 starring Josh Helman & Chanel Cresswell & Michael Bisping & John Hurt & Nick Moran & Charley Palmer Rothwell & Rita Tushingham & Cathal Pendred et al, director Ron Scalpello
I think we need to talk about your violence, Ray. Ray Donovan s2e1: Yo Soy Capitan, shrink, Showtime 2014
Tonight: bloodshed on our streets. We investigate a shocking cause in the rise of stabbings and shootings spreading across Britain. We meet the teenagers arming themselves in a terrifying world of drugs and violence. And the people responsible for bringing in a new generation. Tonight: Violent Britain: Drugs, Knives and Gangs, ITV 2018
The country is currently caught in a wave of serious violence. The headlines are shocking. ibid.
In 2017 across the country there was a more than 20% increase in knife crime and a more than 10% increase in gun crime. ibid.
Across Britain serious violence is on the rise with 100 violent deaths in London this year including at least 16 teenagers. Panorama: Murder on the Streets, BBC 2018
Every year in the UK two million people suffer domestic abuse, the majority at the hands of men. But can more be done to stop it? Panorama: Can Violent Men Change, BBC 2018
Domestic violence accounts for a third of all violent crimes in England and Wales. But is there a way to change those who abuse their partners? ibid.
It all started with a hijacking in November 1972. I was flying home to Mexico City from an anthropological conference on the history of violence when suddenly a group of terrorists took over the flight. It was too good to be true. Storyville: The Raft, BBC 2019
All my life I had wanted to know why people fight … I realised that if I could create a similar situation it would be the perfect laboratory to study human behaviour, but where can you isolate a group of people and expose them to danger? Then I had the idea … ibid.
May 1973, Las Palmas, Spain: Tonight the ten volunteers arrive in the Canary Islands. It was the first time they met. Ten brave strangers who are about to spend the next three months together isolated on the raft. ibid.
Captain Maria is the only professional sailor on board. ibid.
43 years later there’s only 7 of us still alive. ibid. survivor
The roaring noise of the ocean took over. Finally we are at sea. ibid.
Is violence something that is built into our genes or is it something we learn? ibid.
Instead, we witness a clear example of crowd frenzy, people no longer act as individuals but as part of a dangerous collective. ibid.
The most important question of our time: can we do without war? ibid.
He was a master manipulator. ibid. survivor