#cruelty

None of the characters in (the story) were distinguished ones -- not even the lion. He was an old lion, prepared from birth to lose his life rather than to leave it. But he had the dignity of all free creatures, and so he was allowed his moment. It was hardly a glorious moment. The two men who shot him were indifferent as men go, or perhaps they were less than that. At least they shot him without killing him, and then turned the unsconscionable eye of a camera upon his agony. It was a small, a stupid, but a callous crime. ↗

— Beryl Markham

#hunting #lions #stupidity #tourists #life

Имаше един машинен боцман, бай Симо. Дебел като бъчва. Хранеше си едно птиче от устата. Сдъвкваше му залъче и със слюнката си му го даваше. То едничко оживя и закрепна. Направи си гнездо на кораба. Между две вахти, като излезе от машинното, дето се пържи на 48 градуса, бай Симо се разхождаше "по булеварда" - тоест по палубата. Птичето го познаваше. Почваше да се върти край него. Кацаше на рамото му. Той все вардеше водата в купичката да му е прясна и чиста. Да го видиш: едър, грамаден мъжага, става като дете. Умря на кораба внезапно. От разрив на сърцето. Хвърлихме го в морето. И вече не се върна. Така е на кораба. Нежност наред с грубост. Така е и в света. Едни хранят птичета и треперят над тях, а други ги колят и пекат... ↗

— Blaga Dimitrova

#life #tenderness #life

Is the capacity for cruelty inherent in all of us? ↗

— Soledad O'Brien

#cruelty #inherent #us

As I get older, all sorts of things become less funny. Once one has children, any cruelty involving children becomes far less amusing than when one was at the mercy of one's friends' and relatives' children. ↗

— P. J. O'Rourke

#any #become #becomes #children #cruelty

Cruelty isn't a personality trait. Cruelty is a habit. ↗

— Rick Yancey

#cruelty

War is cruelty, and none can make it gentle. ↗

— Gilbert Parker

#gentle #make #none #war

True beauty is something that attacks, overpowers, robs, and finally destroys. ↗

— Yukio Mishima

#cruelty #love #beauty

Waking up was a daily cruelty, an affront, and she avoided it by not sleeping. ↗

— Gregory Maguire

#death #immortality #insomnia #death

Keep me rather in this cage, and feed me sparingly, if you dare. Anything that brings me closer to illness and the edge of death makes me more faithful. It is only when you make me suffer that I feel safe and secure. You should never have agreed to be a god for me if you were afraid to assume the duties of a god, and we know that they are not as tender as all that. You have already seen me cry. Now you must learn to relish my tears. ↗

— Pauline Réage

#cruelty #dark #faith #god #love

We cut the throat of a calf and hang it up by the heels to bleed to death so that our veal cutlet may be white; we nail geese to a board and cram them with food because we like the taste of liver disease; we tear birds to pieces to decorate our women's hats; we mutilate domestic animals for no reason at all except to follow an instinctively cruel fashion; and we connive at the most abominable tortures in the hope of discovering some magical cure for our own diseases by them. ↗

— George Bernard Shaw

#carnivore #carnivores #diet #health #meat