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My neighbour, or my servant, or my child, has done me an injury, and it is just that he should suffer an injury in return. Such is the doctrine which Jesus Christ summoned his whole resources of persuasion to oppose. 'Love your enemy, bless those who curse you:' such, he says, is the practice of God, and such must ye imitate if ye would be the children of God.

Percy Bysshe Shelley#183

LoveReligionJusticeChristianityForgiveness

About this quote

What does it mean?
Jesus taught to love enemies instead of seeking revenge for injuries.
In plain terms
Instead of hurting back, do good to those who hurt you.
What can you take from it?
Follow God's example by loving your enemies.

Where it applies

  • personal conflicts
  • community disputes
  • spiritual practice

Putting it to work

  • forgive offenders
  • resist retaliation
  • practice kindness

Questions to consider

  • How do you respond when hurt?
  • Is revenge ever right?

Another view

Revenge feels natural and justified to many people.

More from Percy Bysshe Shelley

  1. This, and no other, is justice: - to consider, under all the circumstances and consequences of a particular case, how the greatest quantity and purest quality …

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  2. The absurd and execrable doctrine of vengeance, in all its shapes, seems to have been contemplated by this great moralist with the profoundest disapprobation; …

    Permalink to quote #182
  3. The nature of a narrow and malevolent spirit is so essentially incompatible with happiness as to render it inaccessible to the influences of the benignant God.…

    Permalink to quote #185

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