Vices

"A plague of all cowards, I say."

"Gaudensque viam fecisse ruina."

"Je voudrais bien voir la grimace qu'il fait à cette heure sur cet échafaud."

"An angel with a trumpet said, "Forever more, forever more, The reign of violence is o'er!""

"Contre les rebelles c'est cruauté que d'estre humain, et humanité d'estre cruel."

"Inhumanity is caught from man, From smiling man."

"Sadism is plainly connected with the need for self-assertion. At the same time it cannot be separated from the idea of defeat. A sadist is a man, who, in some sense, has his back to the wall. Nothing is further from sadism, for example, than the cheerful, optimistic mentality of a Shaw or Wells."

"Franco's cruelty was that of the centurion, impersonal and efficient. Once, inspecting troops as a colonel of the Spanish Foreign Legion, he had food thrown in his face by a legionnaire protesting its quality. It spattered his uniform, but his facial expression did not change, nor did he say a word. He merely took out his handkerchief, wiped off the food and continued the inspection. Returning to his office, he calmly called an officer, pointed out the offender and said: "Take that soldier out and execute him.""

"I can only imagine the envy with which Donald watched Derek Chauvin's casual cruelty and monstrous indifference as he murdered George Floyd; hands in his pockets, his insouciant gaze aimed at the camera. I can only imagine that Donald wishes it had been his knee on Floyd's neck."

"There is little more destructive than the passive bystander allowing cruelty to be freely imposed."

"If ever henceforth thou These rural latches to his entrance open, Or hoop his body more with thy embraces, I will devise a death as cruel for thee As thou art tender to't."

"You are the cruell'st she alive, If you will lead these graces to the grave And leave the world no copy."

"See what a rent the envious Casca made."

"Men so noble, However faulty, yet should find respect For what they have been; 'tis a cruelty To load a falling man."

"I must be cruel, only to be kind."

"If we are to end our wars, we have to dispense with a threatening, vengeful, bloodthirsty God. If we're to have any kind of world brotherhood, we have to dispense with a God who reserves his favors for a chosen few. Life is given to all. The sun shines freely on each of us. Would a God be less kindly? More than this, we must also dispense with our species God, and extend our ideas of divinity outward to the rest of nature which couches us and our religious theorizing with such a gracious and steady support."

"The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators."

"Cruel lands breed cruel peoples"

"People try to excuse their brutality by saying that it is the custom; but a crime does not cease to be a crime because many commit it. Karma takes no account of custom; and the karma of cruelty is the most terrible of all. In India at least there can be no excuse for such customs, for the duty of harmlessness is well-known to all. The fate of the cruel must fall also upon all who go out intentionally to kill God's creatures, and call it "sport"."

"The cruelties of property and privilege are always more ferocious than the revenges of poverty and oppression. For the one aims at perpetuating resented injustice, the other is merely a momentary passion soon appeased."

"Even bear-baiting was esteemed heathenish and unchristian: the sport of it, not the inhumanity, gave offence."

"It is not linen you're wearing out, But human creatures' lives."

"Maybe God isn't the sex police, Richard. Sometimes I think Christians get all hung up on the sex thing because it's easier to worry about sex than to ask yourself, am I a good person? […] It makes it easy to be cruel, because as long as you're not fucking around, nothing you do can be that bad. Is that really all you think of God?"

"The pain was maddening. You should pray to God when you're dying, if you can pray when you're in agony. In my dream I didn't pray to God, I thought of Roger and how dearly I loved him. The pain of those wicked flames was not half so bad as the pain I felt when I knew he was dead. I felt suddenly glad to be dying. I didn't know when you were burnt to death you'd bleed. I thought the blood would all dry up in the terrible heat. But I was bleeding heavily. The blood was dripping and hissing in the flames. I wished I had enough blood to put the flames out. The worst part was my eyes. I hate the thought of gong blind. It's bad enough when I'm awake but in dreams you can't shake the thoughts away. They remain. In this dream I was going blind. I tried to close my eyelids but I couldn't. They must have been burnt off, and now those flames were going to pluck my eyes out with their evil fingers, I didn't want to go blind. The flames weren't so cruel after all. They began to feel cold. Icy cold. It occurred to me that I wasn't burning to death but freezing to death."

"It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back."

"He who seeks his own happiness by inflicting pain on others, being entangled by bonds of enmity, cannot be free from enmity."

"Detested sport, That owes its pleasures to another's pain."

"Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn!"

"Adieu, canaux, canards, canaille."

"The man that lays his hand on woman, Save in the way of kindness, is a wretch Whom 'twere gross flattery to name a coward."

"Timidus se vocat cautum, parcum sordidus."

"When all the blandishments of life are gone, The coward sneaks to death, the brave live on."

"Canis timidus vehementius latrat quam mordet."

"Vous semblez les anguilles de Melun; vous criez devant qu'on vous escorche."

"Virtutis expers verbis jactans gloriam Ignotos fallit, notis est derisui."

"Timidi est optare necem."

"Men lie, who lack courage to tell truth — the cowards!"

"He That kills himself to avoid misery, fears it, And, at the best, shows but a bastard valour. This life's a fort committed to my trust, Which I must not yield up, till it be forced: Nor will I. He's not valiant that dares die, But he that boldly bears calamity."

"When desp'rate ills demand a speedy cure, Distrust is cowardice, and prudence folly."

"Der Feige droht nur, wo er sicher ist."

"The coward never on himself relies, But to an equal for assistance flies."

"That all men would be cowards if they dare, Some men we know have courage to declare."

"To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage."

"To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men."

"“Show yourselves,” cried Stephon. “Only cowards hide in the dark.” “Cowards do many things,” said the voice. “Cowards kill their Commanders and make it look like a bandit attack. Cowards plot in secret. Cowards breed insurrection. Cowards plan the abuse of women.”"

"Ignavissimus quisque, et ut res docuit, in periculo non ausurus, nimis verbis et lingua feroces."

"As far as my observation has reached, and the circle of it is by no means, a narrow one — an hard heart is always a cowardly heart. — Generosity and courage are associate virtues; and the character which possesses the former, must, in the nature of mental arrangements, be adorned with the latter. If I perceive a man to be capable of doing a mean action, — if I see him imperious and tyrannical; if he takes advantage of the weak to oppress, or of the poor to grind, or of the downcast to insult, — or is continually on the hunt after excuses not to do what he ought, — I determine such a man, though he may have fought fifty duels, to be a coward. — It is by no means a proof that a man is brave because he does not refuse to fight; — for we all know that cowards have fought, nay, — that cowards have conquered, — but a coward never performed a generous or a noble action: — and thou hast my authority to say, — and thou mightest find a worse, that a hard-hearted character never was a brave one. I say, thou mayst justly call such a man a coward, — and, if he should be spirited into a resentment of thy words — fear him not. — Tristram shall brighten his armour, and scour the rust from off his spear, and aid thee in the combat. Sunday evening"

"A coward, a most devout coward, religious in it."

"By this good light, this is a very shallow monster!—I afear'd of him!—A very weak monster!—The man i' the moon!—A most poor, credulous monster!—Well drawn, monster, in good sooth!"

"That which in mean men we entitle patience Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts."