APAD: Milk of human kindness

Meaning:

  Care and compassion for others.

 

Background:

  From Shakespeare's Macbeth, 1605:

 

     "Yet doe I feare thy Nature, It is too full o' th' Milke of humane kindnesse."

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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What's to be feared of one's compassion for others? I looked it up and found

    'I do fear thy nature, / It is too full o'th'milk of human kindness / To

    catch the nearest way. ' (1,5) Lady Macbeth is worried that Macbeth is too

    good and soft-hearted to take action to get the crown.

 

Now that makes sense.

所有跟帖： 

• somehow I feel Lady M. would take the power herself if she -最西邊的島上- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 09:34:24

• could. Remember poor Macbeth w/ dagger in hand, in play~~ -最西邊的島上- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 09:39:10

• She has less milk. That's for sure. -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 17:01:41

• Just remembered another idiom: milk the cow, learned from -最西邊的島上- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 10:30:32

• a coworker who kept jumping between companies :-) -最西邊的島上- ♀ (289 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 10:34:09

• That's part of the deal. -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 17:02:05

• Never wean off the Milk -移花接木- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 12:37:44

• Agreed. have milk everyday @ breakfast & in coffee ~~ -最西邊的島上- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 13:46:14

• Lady M. did. -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 17:02:52

• Human beings are born with it and nurtured by it:) -暖冬cool夏- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 13:12:52

• +10000! (Highest mark I ever give out :-) -最西邊的島上- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 13:41:05

• 人之初，性本善嗎？ -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 17:03:55

• Yes，it‘s the world that dyes us black:)) -暖冬cool夏- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 17:51:23

• FYI：三周前，我去了附近小學幼兒班，告訴他們 kindness begets kindness, 我去給他們講故事是 -最西邊的島上- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 17:57:10

• 報答他們送的善良卡。從那10幾個5歲孩子們的笑容裏，我真的看到了善！！！ -最西邊的島上- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 17:59:11

• People are not stones or trees. All are born with the milk -JoyAnna.- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 14:53:22

• of human kindness. -JoyAnna.- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 14:53:49

• excepting those who are not. -7grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 17:04:35

• U r right -JoyAnna.- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/07/2026 postreply 17:46:43