Thirst for revenge is the most important source of ressentiment. As we have seen, the very term “ressentiment” indicates that we have to do with reactions which presuppose the previous apprehension of another person's state of mind. The desire for revenge—in contrast with all active and aggressive impulses, be they friendly or hostile—is also such a reactive impulse. It is always preceded by an attack or an injury. Yet it must be clearly distinguished from the impulse for reprisals or self-defense, even when this reaction is accompanied by anger, fury, or indignation. If an animal bites its attacker, this cannot be called “revenge.” Nor does an immediate reprisal against a box on the ear fall under this heading. Revenge is distinguished by two essential characteristics. First of all, the immediate reactive impulse, with the accompanying emotions of anger and rage, is temporarily or at least momentarily checked and restrained, and the response is consequently postponed to a later time and to a more suitable occasion (“just wait till next time”). This blockage is caused by the reflection that an immediate reaction would lead to defeat, and by a concomitant pronounced feeling of “inability” and “impotence.” Thus even revenge as such, based as it is upon an experience of impotence, is always primarily a matter of those who are “weak” in some respect. Furthermore, it is of the essence of revenge that it always contains the *consciousness* of “tit for tat,” so that it is never a mere emotional reaction.

Born to live our stated time on this globe, every one who puts a premature period to our existence here, offends the laws of the Creator. The passions are wisely implanted in our breast for our preservation; and revenge, in particular, guards us against the encroachments of others. Savages do not give up the right of retaliating injuries; but civilized societies confer on certain individuals the power and the duty to revenge their wrongs. Still, even in the most polished countries of Europe, this method of administring justice is not sufficient in all cases. Such is the imperfection of human institutions, that the public avenger of wrongs oft lifts his hand against the sacred rights of the whole community. On that occasion all civil agreements are dissolved, every man assumes his rights, and give free course to the passions. Even in private life there are occasions where this sacred principle of revenge is of infinite service in the best regulated community. Nothing is more common than oppressions, affronts, and injuries against which the law provides no remedy; nothing more frequent, than that a set men are powerful enough to wrest the laws to the disadvantage of the wretched and friendless. These instances would be still more numerous, and be carried to the most detestable pitch of tyranny, if this dread did not with-hold them, that the injured party may resume that power of redressing his wrongs, which he sees so inadequately exercised by his representative. He that attempts another's property, runs the risk of being killed without a trial by the person whom he robs; and the fear of the sword or the cane, hath often kept villains within bounds, who are invulnerable to the attacks of the law.

Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.

Hunger for vengeance poisoned the soul.

Envy, like thirst for revenge, is the wicked person's version of our natural sense of injustice.

It is exactly the fear of revenge that motivates the deepest crimes, from the killing of the enemy's children lest they grow up to play their own part, to the erasure of the enemy's graveyards and holy places so that his hated name can be forgotten.

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but writing for me sometimes begins in a spirit of revenge. I looked it up recently: the word revenge comes from the Anglo-French revengier, sharing lineage with vengeance, which originates from the Latin vindicāre, meaning “to assert a claim, claim as one’s own.” I write to lay claim. To claim the world as my own... Sometimes the spirit of revenge comes from a more personal, petty place. I want to tell how someone wronged me. But what I love about fiction is that nothing ends where it begins. In the writing, I am forced to identify with the person who wronged me and to look critically on the protagonist who was wronged. Through endless drafts, I’ve drifted so far away from the original story—so far from the spirit of revenge—that I find myself in a more tangled and interesting new place. So the real act of revenge is that I was able to make art out of the ashes of real pain. I’ve never been convinced that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. But if you know how to make fiction out of lived experience—how to turn the “me” into a “she,” how to find the story that didn’t happen within the one that did—you don’t walk away from the calamity empty-handed. In a spin on the old Zen saying, the obstacle is not just the path but the muse itself. Or, in Nora Ephron’s words, “everything is copy.”

I feel that retributive justice is still spiritually akin to revenge. It scratches the same emotional itch. It's basically revenge by proxy. If revenge is “wild justice” then retributive justice is domesticated revenge.

Revenge may be wicked, but it’s natural.

A woman always has her revenge ready.

A punishment that penalizes without forestalling is indeed called revenge.

I suspect you are intent upon some sort of revenge, in response to this dreadful tragedy?'
'And?' I said.
'Let me counsel you. In moments such as this, we are inclined to allow the animal aspect of our natures to take control. It is a mistake. ... Because revenge can destroy a man as surely as the plague. It seems like a god, so pure and true, and full of its sense of justice and entitlement. But it is truly a monster. It feeds perpetually upon its own pain, and upon any pain it can find. And it can never be satisfied until everything has been destroyed utterly.

If it had not been for the pernicious power of envy, men would not so have exalted vengeance above innocence and profit above justice... in these acts of revenge on others, men take it upon themselves to begin the process of repealing those general laws of humanity which are there to give a hope of salvation to all who are in distress.

The whole idea of revenge and punishment is a childish day-dream. Properly speaking, there is no such thing as revenge. Revenge is an act which you want to commit when you are powerless and because you are powerless: as soon as the sense of impotence is removed, the desire evaporates also.