Criss JamiI suspect that 'Kindness and Cruelty' and 'Mercy and Justice' all have secret affairs, as though they rendezvous only within certain sophisticated souls: those who hate being offensive, but love telling the truth.
About This Quote
I suspect that ‘Kindness and Cruelty’ and ‘Mercy and Justice’ all have secret affairs, as though they rendezvous only within certain sophisticated souls: those who hate being offensive, but love telling the truth. This quote comes from an essay by Iris Murdoch. She said that there are times in life when we must not be too kind or merciful in order to be just. She also said that mercy is often mistaken for cruelty.
She thinks that the two are similar in many ways, but different in others. Mercy is much more gentle than cruelty. The difference lies in how Mercy acts.
Mercy is much more gentle than cruelty because it gives the other person another chance to succeed if he or she fails. When Mercy gives someone another chance, it makes the person much more likely to succeed at the task at hand. Mercy does not make a person feel like a failure if he or she fails; whereas cruelty does make a person feel like a failure if he or she fails.
Source: Healology
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