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Killing quotes

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“You can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the spirit;” Robert Louis Stevenson, “Treasure Island” - 1883

“But it is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers.” Ernest Hemingway, “The Old Man and the Sea” - 1952

“Indeed, the law of nature teaches us to kill our neighbour, and such is the practice all over the world.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“Killing is not nearly as easy as the innocent believe.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” - 2005

“A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.” John Steinbeck, “Travels with Charley” - 1962

“The difference between how you look and how you see yourself is enough to kill most people.” Chuck Palahniuk, “Haunted” - 2005

“Would you like me to do it now? . . . Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” - 2007

“Can anything be more ridiculous than that a man should have the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of the water, and because his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have none with him?” Blaise Pascal, “Pensées” - 1670

“the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can’t kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you.” Orson Scott Card, “Ender's Game” - 1985

“'patriotism,' i.e., a willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.” Bertrand Russell, “Sceptical Essays” - 1928

“Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.” William Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet” - 1597

“Know'st thou not any whom corrupting gold will tempt unto a close exploit of death?” William Shakespeare, “Richard III” - 1597

“Everything kills everything else in some way.” Ernest Hemingway, “The Old Man and the Sea” - 1952

“To kill, I grant, is sin's extremest gust; but, in defence, by mercy, 'tis most just.” William Shakespeare, “Timon of Athens” - 1623

“We see the crude and corrupt beginnings of a higher civilisation blotted out by the ferocious uprising of the native tribes. Still, it is the primary right of men to die and kill for the land they live in, and to punish with exceptional severity...” Winston Churchill, “A History of the English-Speaking Peoples” - 1956

“When Tarzan killed he more often smiled than scowled, and smiles are the foundation of beauty.” Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes” - 1912

“I had as well be killed running as die standing.” Frederick Douglass, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” - 1845

“Somehow the killing of the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins.” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Hobbit” - 1937

“Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end.” Neil Gaiman, “American Gods” - 2001

“The worst curse on woman is her exclusion from warrior expeditions; it is not in giving life but in risking his life that man raises himself above the animal; this is why throughout humanity, superiority has been granted not to the sex that gives...” Simone de Beauvoir, “The Second Sex” - 1949

“They don’t kill you unless you light them . . . And I’ve never lit one. It’s a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don’t give it the power to do its killing.” John Green, “The Fault in Our Stars” - 2012

“If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.” George R. R. Martin, “A Game of Thrones” - 1996

“Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good...” Kurt Vonnegut, “Slaughterhouse-Five” - 1969

“Killing rips the soul apart.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” - 2005

“Liberty . . . is a bitch who must be bedded on a mattress of corpses.” Neil Gaiman, “American Gods” - 2001

“That old saying, how you always kill the one you love, well, look, it works both ways.” Chuck Palahniuk, “Fight Club” - 1996

“Trouble with mice is you always kill ’em.” John Steinbeck, “Of Mice and Men” - 1937

“Human beings didn’t evolve brains in order to lie around on lakes. Killing’s the first thing we learned. And a good thing we did, or we’d be dead, and the tigers would own the earth.” Orson Scott Card, “Ender's Game” - 1985

“He was a killer, a thing that preyed, living on the things that lived, unaided, alone, by virtue of his own strength and prowess, surviving triumphantly in a hostile environment where only the strong survived.” Jack London, “The Call of the Wild” - 1903

“You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is...” Ernest Hemingway, “The Old Man and the Sea” - 1952

“There are worse things you can do to the people you love than kill them.” Chuck Palahniuk, “Lullaby” - 2002

“It's hard to kill a creature once it lets you see its consciousness.” Carl Sagan, “Contact” - 1985

“Explain to me why it is more noble to kill ten thousand men in battle than a dozen at dinner.” George R. R. Martin, “A Storm of Swords” - 2000

“I seldom fling children from towers to improve their health.” George R. R. Martin, “A Clash of Kings” - 1999

Related topics

love justice nature war money right attraction violence strength life courage words sadness mercy beauty sin trouble honor smile slavery

Related authors

William Shakespeare (3)
Ernest Hemingway (3)
J. K. Rowling (3)
George R. R. Martin (3)
Chuck Palahniuk (3)
Neil Gaiman (2)
John Steinbeck (2)
Orson Scott Card (2)
John Green (1)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1)
Winston Churchill (1)
Jack London (1)
Bertrand Russell (1)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (1)
Frederick Douglass (1)
Kurt Vonnegut (1)
Carl Sagan (1)
Blaise Pascal (1)
J. R. R. Tolkien (1)
Voltaire (1)

Related sources

The Old Man and the Sea (3)
American Gods (2)
Ender's Game (2)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2)
Romeo and Juliet (1)
Richard III (1)
Timon of Athens (1)
A Game of Thrones (1)
The Fault in Our Stars (1)
Treasure Island (1)
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1)
Tarzan of the Apes (1)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1)
Slaughterhouse-Five (1)
Pensées (1)
The Hobbit (1)
Fight Club (1)
Candide (1)
The Second Sex (1)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (1)