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.
~ Eric Hoffer