milk of human kindness

Cultural  

1. A phrase from Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, meaning humane feeling, concern for other people: “Everyone agreed that Houston was a brilliant thinker and an excellent lawyer, but some people worried that he lacked the milk of human kindness.”

---

Example Sentences

He gulps the milk of human kindness by finding stories of heroism and hope from social media, as well as conducting heart-warming interviews with celebrity friends and members of the public.

From BBC • Apr. 24, 2020

There was a depth, despite everything, to her fabled simplicity, and a courage to her lack of complications; even as the world was curdling around her, she insisted on the milk of human kindness.

From The New Yorker • May 14, 2019

Its final scene, the culmination of a relentless series of hardships, losses and deaths, offers a moment of startling compassion and intimacy — the very milk of human kindness made flesh.

From Washington Post • Feb. 14, 2019

The milk of human kindness does not flow through “Under the Tree,” a blacker than black comedy that is so savage you often don’t know whether to shudder or laugh.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 5, 2018

She would attribute it to measureless wellsprings of piety or stewardship of the phantom herds that bled out the milk of human kindness.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy