When you kill someone, you rob their family – not just of a loved one, but of their humanity. You harden their hearts with hate. You take away their capacity for civilized dispassion. You condemn them to bloodlust. It’s a cruel and horrible thing. But, indulging that hate will never help. The damage is done. And, once we’ve had our pound of flesh, we’re still hungry. We leave the death house muttering that lethal injection was just too good for them. In the end, a civilized society must live with a hard truth: “He who seeks revenge, digs two graves.”
– from “The Life of David Gale” (speech given by Laura Kinney’s character)