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I think that if people are instructed about anything, it should be about the nature of cruelty. And about why people behave so cruelly to each other. And what kind of satisfactions they derive from it. And why there is always a cost, and a price to be paid.
Richard Russo
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Understanding cruelty can help us comprehend human behavior and its consequences.

Richard Russo emphasizes the importance of educating people about the nature of cruelty and the motivations behind it. He suggests that by exploring why individuals act cruelly and the satisfaction they gain from such behavior, we can better understand its repercussions and the costs involved in such actions, both for the perpetrator and the victim.

Themes

CrueltyHuman BehaviorConsequencesSatisfactionUnderstanding

In practice

Example use cases

In a classroom discussion about ethics, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of teaching empathy.

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He'd discovered that his memories of that summer were like bad movie montages - young lovers tossing a Frisbee in the park, sharing a melting ice-cream cone, bicycling along the river, laughing, talking, kissing, a sappy score drowning out the dialogue because the screenwriter had no idea what these two people might say to each other.
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A couple years ago, the novelist Russell Banks told me he was reading the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. I asked why. He said, 'Because I've always wanted to and am tired of having my reading assigned.' I thought it was a marvelous declaration of independence.
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