cruelty

betrayal

deception

justice

trust

etymology

sarcasm

state of nature

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Thomas Hobbes

G.W.F. Hegel

poltergeist

kindness

punk

is a properly human sentiment, in contrast to the so-called humane sentiments which are baseless, mad, and improper... they are incredibly feeble... never do they withstand the gainsaying passions, never do they resist bare necessity.

Humane sentiments are baseless, mad, and improper... they are incredibly feeble... never do they withstand the gainsaying passions, never do they resist bare necessity. Marquis de Sade

is a trait reserved for humans alone: Man is the only animal that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.

Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. Mark Twain

is but a way great men have of feeling more strongly.

Certain souls seem hard because they are capable of strong feelings, and they sometimes go to rather extreme lengths... their apparent unconcern and cruelty are but ways, known only to themselves, of feeling more strongly than others. Marquis de Sade

is essential to the festival that is man, such that to see others suffer does one good, to make others suffer even more.

To see others suffer does one good, to make others suffer even more: this is a hard saying but an ancient, mighty, human, all-too-human principle [. . . .] Without cruelty there is no festival. Friedrich Nietzsche

is learnt from the Bible, for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man.

It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder... for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man. Thomas Paine

is never born of the suffering of others (which makes one's spirit delicate, bright, peaceful), rather, it always comes into being on a beautiful spring afternoon when one is vaguely watching the sun as it peeps through the leaves of the trees above a well-mown lawn.

To see human beings in agony, to see them covered in blood and to hear their death groans, makes people humble. It makes their spirits delicate, bright, peaceful. It's never at such times that we become cruel or bloodthirsty. No, it's on a beautiful spring afternoon like this that people suddenly become cruel. It's at a moment like this, don't you think, while one's vaguely watching the sun as it peeps through the leaves of the trees above a well-mown lawn' Every possible nightmare in the world, every possible nightmare in history, has come into being like this. Yukio Mishima

is not an attribute of beasts, but of man. The tiger only tears and gnaws, that's all he can do. He would never think of nailing people by the ears, even if he were able to do it.

People talk sometimes of a bestial cruelty, but that's a great injustice and insult to the beasts... a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically cruel. The tiger only tears and gnaws, that's all he can do. He would never think of nailing people by the ears, even if he were able to do it. Fyodor Dostoevsky

is rooted in men's certainty that they possess the truth.

It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel. Anatole France

cruelty, n.Definitions

cruelty