Maxim
Meet hatred with love and evil with good.
“For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.”
Buddhism · Ancient (before 200 BCE)
Translation: public-domain translation (Müller)
Watch on YouTube: Why I attend KKK rallies | Daryl Davis ↗Daryl Davis discusses this idea
Answering harm with harm only keeps the wheel turning. Many traditions ask something harder and braver: to break the cycle by returning kindness, even to an enemy.
Related expressions
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”
Watch on YouTube: BibleProject Podcast: Love Your Enemies ↗BibleProject Podcast on loving enemies“If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:”
“Turn away evil by what is better, and lo! he between whom and thyself was enmity, shall be as though he were a warm friend.”
“Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth!”
“Hatred is increased by being reciprocated, and can on the other hand be destroyed by love.”
Score
Moral Rank 93.0 · Evidence E = 20.82
E = ln(1+5.11) + √4.55 + 3·3.62 + 1.5·4 = 20.82