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Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only
one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it. It is a trait that
is not known to the higher animals. |
 AI image created by Barbara Schmidt |
| For his history, in all climes, all ages and all circumstances, furnishes
oceans and continents of proof that of all the creatures that were made,
he is the most detestable. Of the entire brood he is the only one--the solitary
one--that possesses malice. That is the basest of all instincts, passions,
vices--the most hateful. That one thing puts him below the rats, the grubs,
the trichinae. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing
it to be pain. But if the cat knows she is inflicting pain when she plays
with the frightened mouse, then we must make an exception here; we must
grant that in one detail man is the moral peer of the cat. All creatures
kill--there seems to be no exception; but of the whole list, man is the
only one that kills for fun; he is the only one that kills in malice, the
only one that kills for revenge. Also--in all the list he is the only creature
that has a nasty mind. - Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 (2010) |
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