When we blame a man for being ‘a mere animal’, we mean not that he displays animal characteristics (we all do) but that he displays these, and only these, on occasions where the specifically human was demanded. (When we call him ‘brutal’ we usually mean that he commits cruelties impossible to most real brutes; they’re not clever enough.)
 C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960). copy citation

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Author C. S. Lewis
Source The Four Loves
Topic cruelty meaning
Date 1960
Language English
Reference
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