On Avenging, Retribution, and Evil

Retribution might taste sweet, and she was prepared to admit that sometimes the victims of evil required avengers more than they did simple justice, but that sweet taste was also a deadly poison. A corrosive brew which truly could—and all too often did—eat away the moral distinctions between the avenger and those she punished.
Honor Harrington – “Let’s Dance” in “In Fire Forged”

“When that happens,” he said, “when there’s no choice but to kill evil, then kill it. It’s your responsibility, your duty, and if you flinch, you fail—not just yourself, but everything important in your life. But if it must be done, if there truly is no choice, then do it because you must, not because you want to, and never, ever exult in the doing. That’s the priceof your soul, Honor—the ability to do what has to be done without turning yourself into the very thing it is that you’re fighting against.”
Alfred Harrington, “Let’s Dance” in “In Fire Forged”