“A weak human mercy walks in the corridors of hospitals and is like a half-thawed winter.”

—  Czeslaw Milosz

"Before Majesty" (1978), trans. Czesław Miłosz and Robert Hass
Hymn of the Pearl (1981)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A weak human mercy walks in the corridors of hospitals and is like a half-thawed winter." by Czeslaw Milosz?
Czeslaw Milosz photo
Czeslaw Milosz106
Polish, poet, diplomat, prosaist, writer, and translator 1911–2004

Related quotes

Maximilien Robespierre photo

“Indulgence for the royalists, cry certain men, mercy for the villains! No! mercy for the innocent, mercy for the weak, mercy for the unfortunate, mercy for humanity.”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

"On Political Morality" (5 February 1794)

Haruki Murakami photo

“Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Cormac McCarthy photo

“In the spring or warmer weather when the snow thaws in the woods the tracks of winter reappear on slender pedestals and the snow reveals in palimpsest old buried wanderings, struggles, scenes of death. Tales of winter brought to light again like time turned back upon itself.”

Cormac McCarthy book Child of God

Source: Child of God (1973), p.130

Rumi photo

“If you wish mercy, show mercy to the weak.”

Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet

Rumi Daylight (1990)

Simon Hoggart photo

“Mr Arbuthnot did not respond, but sat with a thin, weak smile, like winter sunshine upon a coffin lid.”

Simon Hoggart (1946–2014) English journalist and broadcaster

Quoted by Rod Liddell, Guardian, 18 Sep 2002 http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,793988,00.html

“The true purpose of the strong is to promote greater strength in the weak, and not to keep the weak in that state where they are at the mercy of the strong.”

Christian D. Larson (1874–1962) Prolific author of metaphysical and New Thought books

Source: Your Forces and How to Use Them (1912), Chapter 14, p. 210

Plutarch photo

“Antiphanes said merrily that in a certain city the cold was so intense that words were congealed as soon as spoken, but that after some time they thawed and became audible; so that the words spoken in winter articulated next summer.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Of Man's Progress in Virtue
Moralia, Others

Liam O'Flaherty photo

“He was a poor weak human being like themselves, a human soul, weak and helpless in suffering, shivering in the toils of the eternal struggle of the human soul with pain.”

Liam O'Flaherty book The Informer

The Informer (1925; London: New English Library, 1971) p. 139

Edward R. Murrow photo

“As I walked down to the end of the barracks, there was applause from the men too weak to get out of bed. It sounded like the hand clapping of babies; they were so weak.”

Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965) Television journalist

Broadcast from Buchenwald (1945)

John Muir photo

“[I first climbed Half Dome on] one of those brooding days that come just between Indian summer and winter, when the clouds are like living creatures.”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

"South Dome", San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin (part 11 of the 11 part series "Summering in the Sierra") dated 10 November 1875, published 18 November 1875; reprinted in John Muir: Summering in the Sierra, edited by Robert Engberg (University of Wisconsin Press, 1984) page 147
1870s

Related topics