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Cruelty hardens and degrades, kindness reforms and ennobles.
Robert Green Ingersoll
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Kindness has the power to uplift and improve behavior, while cruelty leads to a decline in character.

This quote by Robert Green Ingersoll emphasizes the transformative power of kindness in contrast to the destructive nature of cruelty. It suggests that acts of kindness can refine and elevate a person's character, leading to personal growth and positive change, while cruelty can lead to a hardening of the heart and a degradation of moral fiber.

Themes

KindnessCrueltyTransformationCharacterBehavior

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about building a compassionate community, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of kindness over cruelty.

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In all ages the people have honored those who dishonored them. They have worshiped their destroyers; they have canonized the most gigantic liars, and buried the great thieves in marble and gold. Under the loftiest monuments sleeps the dust of murder.
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I believe that there is something far nobler than loyalty to any particular man. Loyalty to the truth as we perceive it - loyalty to our duty as we know it - loyalty to the ideals of our brain and heart - is, to my mind, far greater and far nobler than loyalty to the life of any particular man or God. . . .
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Quote by Robert Green Ingersoll | QuoteProject