A beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a man gets to being a beast, the less he knows it.
- George MacDonaldEvery age, every culture, every custom and tradition has its own character, its own weakness and its own strength, its beauties and cruelties; it accepts certain sufferings as matters of course, puts up patiently with certain evils. Human life is reduced to real suffering, to hell, only when two ages, two cultures and religions overlap.
- Hermann HesseCruelty is a part of nature, at least of human nature, but it is the one thing that seems unnatural to us
- Robinson JeffersMen are cruel, but Man is kind.
- Rabindranath TagoreMen feel that cruelty to the poor is a kind of cruelty to animals. They never feel that it is an injustice to equals; nay it is treachery to comrades.
- G.K. ChestertonCruelty is, perhaps, the worst kid of sin. Intellectual cruelty is certainly the worst kind of cruelty.
- G.K. ChestertonCruelty, like every other vice, requires no motive outside of itself; it only requires opportunity
- George EliotCruelty and fear shake hands together
- Honore de BalzacIn order to get power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness but with qualities that are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning and cruelty
- Leo Nikolaevich TolstoyCruelty is fed, not weakened, by tears
- Publilius SyrusOne of the ill effects of cruelty is that it makes the bystanders cruel
- Thomas Fowell Buxton