Cruelty

Explore 4 quotes about Cruelty

I must be cruel only to be kind.

William Shakespeare

Hamlet

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Read Hamlet at The Folger Shakespeare Library

More information about this quote

Topic

End justifies the means Justifications and rationales Cruelty Kindness

Speaker

Hamlet

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Hamlet

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragedy (play)

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1616 1610s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. London: Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, 1623, act 3, sc. 4.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, act 3, sc. 4.

Man to Man is an arrant wolf.

Thomas Hobbes

More information about this quote

Topic

Man's cruelty to man Cruelty Human nature

Author

Thomas Hobbes

Source

De Cive

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1642 1640s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. De Cive [On the citizen]. Paris, 1642.

Current Citation

Hobbes, Thomas. Man and Citizen (De Homine and De Cive), edited by Bernard Gert. Hackett Publishing, 1991.

Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor.

Thomas Jefferson

Read this letter at the National Archives website

More information about this quote

Topic

Man's cruelty to man Cruelty Man and animals Rich vs. poor

Author

Thomas Jefferson

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1787 1780s 18th century

Era

American Revolutionary Period

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Colonel Edward Carrington. 16 Jan. 1787.

Current Citation

Jefferson, Thomas. "Col. Edward Carrington, Jan. 16, 1787." The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Including the Autobiography, The Declaration of Independence & His Public and Private Letters, edited by Adrienne Koch and William Peden. Modern Library, 1998.

The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.

Bertrand Russell

More information about this quote

Topic

Hell Cruelty

Author

Bertrand Russell

Source

On the Value of Skepticism Sceptical Essays

Medium

Essay

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Russell, Bertrand. "On the Value of Skepticism." Sceptical Essays. George Allen and Unwin Ltd./W. W. Norton & Company, 1928.