When you begin a journey of revenge, start by digging two graves: one for your enemy, and one for yourself.

The line warns that revenge is intrinsically self-destructive: in pursuing harm against an enemy, the avenger also damages their own moral life, peace of mind, and future. The image of “two graves” compresses the idea that vengeance tends to consume the seeker—through obsession, escalating retaliation, or the loss of empathy—so that the victory, if it comes, is hollow. It also implies a symmetry between perpetrator and victim: revenge risks making the avenger resemble the wrongdoer. As a maxim, it functions less as a call to passivity than as a caution about the psychological and ethical costs of retribution compared with justice or repair.

1) “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”
2) “If you seek revenge, you should dig two graves: one for your enemy and one for yourself.”
3) “When you set out for revenge, dig two graves—one for your enemy and one for yourself.”