Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence.

Francis Jeffrey (1773 - 1850)

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent¹.

Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992), Salvor Hardin in "Foundation"

The only thing that's been a worse flop² than the organization of non-violence has been the organization of violence.

Joan Baez (1941 - )

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable³.

John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), In a speech at the White House, 1962

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

Victory attained⁴ by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary⁵.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948), 'Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13,' May 3, 1919

There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.

Muhammad Ali (1942 - )

Perseverance⁶ is more prevailing⁷ than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.

Plutarch (46 AD - 120 AD), Lives

The right things to do are those that keep our violence in abeyance⁸; the wrong things are those that bring it to the fore⁹.

Robert J. Sawyer (1960 - ), "Calculating God", 2000

It is by no means self-evident that human beings are most real when most violently excited; violent physical passions do not in themselves differentiate¹⁰ men from each other, but rather tend to reduce them to the same state.

Thomas Elliot