Cruelty Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old cruelty quotes, cruelty sayings, and cruelty proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Kindness is the beginning of cruelty. Frank Herbert
Cruelty is the law pervading all nature and society; and we can't get out of it if we would. Thomas Hardy
When we think of cruelty, we must try to remember the stupidity, the envy, the frustration from which it has arisen. Edith Sitwell
Cruelty is easy, cheap and rampant. Brene Brown
The only thing worse than cruelty is delegated cruelty. Matthew Scully
The worst cruelty that can be inflicted on a human being is isolation. Sukarno
Deliberate cruelty is unforgivable. Tennessee Williams
If anything should take place behind closed doors, it was cruelty and betrayal. Edward St. Aubyn
Cruelty is a tyrant that's always attended with fear. Thomas Fuller
Cruelty signifies rigor, implacable intention and decision, irreversible and absolute determination. Antonin Artaud
Cruelty is softened by fear, not pity. Mason Cooley
Cruelty, like every other vice, requires no motive outside of itself; it only requires opportunity. George Eliot
Cruelty is the first attribute of the devil. Nani
War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over. William Tecumseh Sherman
All the cruelty and torment of which the world is full is in fact merely the necessary result of the totality of the forms under which the will to live is objectified. Arthur Schopenhauer
In great hearts the cruelty of life gives birth to good. Vastly Grossman
Cruelty, very far from being a vice, is the first sentiment Nature injects in us all. Marquis De Sade
Cruelty is the surest sign of stupidity. Marty Rubin
Cruelty is a part of nature, at least of human nature, but it is the one thing that seems unnatural to us. Robinson Jeffers
Cruelty is all out of ignorance. If you knew what was in store for you, you wouldn't hurt anybody, because whatever you do comes back much more forceful than you send it out. Willie Nelson
Is cruelty still cruel if it is necessary? Is cruelty still cruel if it is part of a lie? Johnny Rich
Cruelty and fear shake hands together. An unfulfilled vocation drains the color from a man's entire existence. Honoré de Balzac
Cruelty is contagious in uncivilized communities. Harriet Ann Jacobs
Cruelty is not something you can just sugar coat with a smile, with laughter, with a hug or with an act of kindness. It is a diabolical behaviour that will keep popping up behind that smile, behind that laughter, behind that hug and behind that act of kindness. 'A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.' (Proverbs 11:17) Euginia Herlihy
It is cruelty to the innocent not to punish the guilty. Robinson Jeffers
Cruelty is, perhaps, the worst kid of sin. Intellectual cruelty is certainly the worst kind of cruelty. G.K. Chesterton
Cruelty would be delicious if one could only find some sort of cruelty that didn't really hurt. George Bernard Shaw
There's a certain edge about cruelty. If you're honest about it, most people wince, but say it had to be said. Pete Waterman
Probably human cruelty is fixed and eternal. Only styles change. Martin Amis
Lack of courage leads to cruelty. Lailah Gifty Akita
Cruelty is a language that the blind can see, the deaf can hear, and the heart feels forever. Shannon L. Alder
There is no honor in cruelty. Jocelyn Murray
Cruelty towards others is always also cruelty towards ourselves. Paul Tillich
Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable. Jodie Foster
Cruelty constitutes the greatest moral distance at which an intelligent creature can be removed from a God of forbearance and mercy. Eliza Cook
Cruelty ever proceeds from a vile mind, and often from a cowardly heart. Lodovico Ariosto
Cruelty to men and to the lower animals as well, which would have passed unnoticed a century ago, now shocks the sensibilities and is regarded as wicked and degrading. Elihu Root
Cruelty must be whitewashed by a moral excuse, and pretense of reluctance. George Bernard Shaw
The cruelty itself is motivated by something deeper: the wish to know the secret of things and of life. Erich Fromm
All cruelty springs from weakness. Seneca
Cruelty is fed, not weakened, by tears. Tacitus
Cruelty is the highest pleasure to the cruel man; it is his love. Walter Savage Landor
Cruelty is not a literary value. Salman Rushdie
Cruelty practiced as a matter of social principle or public policy, and presented to the community as a means to a higher goal is the most obscene and decadent phenomenon of any civilization. Vernon Howard
Cruelty is one fashion statement we can all do without. Rue McClanahan
War is cruelty, and none can make it gentle. Gilbert Parker
Cruelty is lack of courage. Lailah Gifty Akita
Is the capacity for cruelty inherent in all of us? Soledad O'Brien
Cruelty and wrong are not the greatest forces in the world. There is nothing eternal in them. Only love is eternal. Elisabeth Elliot
The cruelty of men had infected the land, and sea only swept in sharp waves to the shores. Gayendra Abeywardane
I would not enter on my list of friends the man who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. Cowper
Man's inhumanity to man, makes countless thousands mourn. Burns
One of the ill effects of cruelty is that it makes the bystanders cruel. Buxton
Detested sport, that owes its pleasure to another's pain. Cowper
Boys throw stones at frogs for fun, but the frogs don't die for 'fun' but in sober earnest. Bion
The wish to hurt, the momentary intoxication with pain, is the loophole through which the pervert climbs into the minds of ordinary men. Jacob Bronowski
Strike him so that he can feel that he is dying. Caligula
Being cruel to be kind is just ordinary cruelty with an excuse made for it. And it is right that it should be more resented, as it is. Ivy Compton-Burnett
Cruel men believe in a cruel God and use their belief to excuse their cruelty, Bertrand Russell
The healthy man does not torture others—generally, it is the tortured who turn into torturers. Carl Gustav Jung
All cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness. Tennessee Williams
There is cruelty in divorce. There is cruelty in forced or unfortunate marriage. Anne Roiphe
Cruelty towards others is always also cruelty towards ourselves. Paul Tillich
Cruelty...argues not only a depravedness of nature but also a meanness of courage and imbecility of mind. Sir William Temple
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented hell. Bertrand Russell
I am afraid that women appreciate cruelty, downright cruelty, more than anything else. They have wonderfully primitive instincts. We have emancipated them, but they remain slaves looking for their masters, all the same. They love being dominated. Oscar Wilde
A hurtful act is a transference to others of the degradation which we bear in ourselves. Simone Weil
Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things. Terry Pratchett
I think cruelty is just loneliness disguised as bitterness. Tom Hiddleston
Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Killing animals to make a fashion statement = a sickening + cold-blooded vanity. Jess C. Scott
In great hearts, the cruelty of life gives birth to good. Vasily Grossman
The weakest ones are the wickedest cruel / When the strongest ones in gentleness rule. Ana Claudia Antunes
The truth doesn't have to do with cruelty, the truth has to do with mercy. Ken Kesey
To punish the oppressors of humanity is clemency; to forgive them is cruelty. Maximikien Robespierre
We have to be aware of our fragilities as human beings - when we see cruelty, to understand that in certain conditions, we could be cruel, too. Ingrid Betancourt