vengeance

Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed, on swallowing, warm and racy: its after-flavour, metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned.

Vengeance is a delicious fruit, which must be allowed to ripen in order that it may be fully enjoyed.

Remember these Romans, Hannibal. For the time being, we must ally with them. But the day will come when we will have our vengeance upon them, as we will upon the demons of Harappa. Never forget that.__he boy's voice was grave. __'ll remember.

Never do an enemy a small injury.

That's when I learned the hardest truth about vengeance: it had no logical end, served no real purpose, except perhaps to delay grief.

He was almost at his door when Vik__ earsplitting shriek resounded down the corridor. Tom was glad for the excuse to sprint back toward him. __ik?__e reached Vik__ doorway as Vik was backing out of it. __om,_ he breathed, __t__ an abomination.__onfused, Tom stepped past him into the bunk. Then he gawked, too.Instead of a standard trainee bunk of two small beds with drawers underneath them and totally bare walls, Vik__ bunk was virtually covered with images of their friend Wyatt Enslow. There were posters all over the wall with Wyatt__ solemn, oval face on them. She wore her customary scowl, her dark eyes tracking their every move through the bunk. There was_a giant_marble statue of a sad-looking Vik with a boot on top of its head. The Vik statue clutched two very, very tiny hands together in a gesture of supplication, its eyes trained upward on the unseen stomper, an inscription at its base, WHY, OH WHY, DID I CROSS WYATT ENSLOW?Tom began to laugh.__he didn__ do it to the bunk,_ Vik insisted. __he must__e done something to our processors.__hat much was obvious. If Wyatt was good at anything, it was pulling off tricks with the neural processors, which could pretty much be manipulated to show them anything. This was some sort of illusion she was making them see, and Tom heartily approved.He stepped closer to the walls to admire some of the photos_pinned there, freeze-frames of some of Vik__ more embarrassing moments at the Spire: that time Vik got_a computer virus_that convinced him he was a sheep, and he__ crawled around on his hands and knees chewing on plants in the arboretum. Another was Vik gaping in dismay as Wyatt won the war games.__y hands do not look like that._ Vik jabbed a finger at the statue and its abnormally tiny hands. Wyatt had relentlessly mocked Vik for having small, delicate hands ever since Tom had informed her it was the proper way to counter one of Vik__ nicknames for her, __an Hands._ Vik had mostly_abandoned_that nickname for __vil Wench,_ and Tom suspected it was due to the delicate-hands gibe.Just then, Vik__ new roommate bustled into the bunk.He was a tall, slim guy with curly black hair and a pointy look to his face. Tom had seen him around, and he called up his profile from memory:NAME: Giuseppe NicholsRANK: USIF, Grade IV Middle, Alexander DivisionORIGIN: New York, NYACHIEVEMENTS: Runner-up, Van Cliburn International Piano CompetitionIP: 2053:db7:lj71::291:ll3:6e8SECURITY STATUS: Top Secret LANDLOCK-4Giuseppe must__e been able to see the bunk_template, too, because he stuttered to a stop, staring up at the statue. __id you really program a giant_statue of yourself into your bunk_template? That__ so narcissistic.__om smothered his laughter. __ow. He already has your number, man.__ik shot him a look of death as Tom backed out of the bunk.

Revenge is sweet but not nourishing.

Revenge tightens the heart as much as the jaw. (La vengeance serre le c_ur - Autant que la mâchoire)

Vengeance is pointless, but certain men did not have a place in the world we sought to construct

Hatred bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Revenge loses sight of the end in the means, but it's end is not wholly bad - it wants the evil of the bad man to be to him what it is to everyone else. This is proved by the fact that the avenger wants the guilty party not merely to suffer, but to suffer at his hands, and to know it, and to know why. Hence the impulse to taunt the guilty man with his crime at the moment of taking vengeance: hence, too, such natural expressions as 'I wonder how he'd like it if the same thing were done to him' or 'I'll teach him'. For the same reason when we are going to abuse a man in words we say we are going to 'let him know what we think of him'.

Burn them all, little dragon.

Revenge can only be found on the road to self-destruction.

... Life can be savored only if you look to the future and leave vengeance to the gods

I wanted it more than enough. I wanted it with every fiber of my being, and I had the power to make it happen - to make it so I was the one Drew wanted, not Lizzie

...And you, you better run because i'm going to destroy you for what you've taken from me.

When the ships had lifted, they returned across the river to the silence of death. Then his grandfather told him, "Many fine things your father had planned for you: learning and useful work and a life of satisfaction and peace. Do you recall this?""Yes, Grandfather.""The learning you shall have. You will learn patience and resource, the ability of your hands and your mind. You will have useful work: the destruction of evil men. What work could be more useful? This is Beyond; you will find that your work is never done__o therefore you may never know life of peace. However, I guarantee you ample satisfaction, for I will teach you to crave the blood of these men more than the flesh of woman."The old man had been as good as his word.

For the taking of revenge, a man locks himself up alone and thinks. His stomach must be empty for his head to be full. Vengeance comes a little from the heart and a lot from the mind; one must take oneself apart from the noise of men and of things, even from what resembles them; only the voices of bells and of thunder are allowed. Let the room in which you meditate be dark, narrow and warm.