quote · Legacy record
In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes--courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, etc.--can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.Nature has no compassion. It is, in the words of William Blake, "a creation that groans, living on the death; where fish and bird and beast and tree and metal and stone live by devouring." Nature accepts no excuses and the only punishment it knows is death.
In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes--courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, etc.--can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.Nature has no compassion. It is, in the words of William Blake, "a creation that groans, living on the death; where fish and bird and beast and tree and metal and stone live by devouring." Nature accepts no excuses and the only punishment it knows is death.
Approximate author period: c. 1942 AD · modern
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- Author or tradition
- Eric Hoffer
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1942 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1902 to 1983; Wikidata Q588692, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q588692 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 244581; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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