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cruel to be kind

Cultural  

  1. To be “cruel to be kind” is to cause someone pain for his or her own good. The phrase is used by Hamlet after he has berated his mother for her infidelity to the memory of her deceased husband.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"You have to be cruel to be kind, and this is the pure example of it."

From BBC • Jan. 6, 2024

Sometimes you've got to be cruel to be kind.

From New York Times • Mar. 3, 2018

It’s a tough break, but, you know, cruel to be kind and all that.

From Salon • Jan. 19, 2013

Ultimately, Messrs. Jobs and Gates's lessons to managers aren't about being cruel to be kind or successful.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2012

The result is not altogether confirmatory of the popular belief and does not fulfil the pious hope of the governing powers who are cruel to be kind.

From The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 1 by Bierce, Ambrose

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.