Cruelty is softened by fear, not pity.

Cooley’s aphorism suggests that cruelty rarely yields to moral appeal. Pity—an emotional recognition of another’s suffering—may be ignored or even exploited by the cruel, because it asks for voluntary restraint. Fear, by contrast, introduces consequences: the prospect of retaliation, punishment, social censure, or loss of power. The line implies a bleak realism about human behavior and social control: compassion is not the primary check on brutality; deterrence is. Read more broadly, it critiques sentimental faith in empathy as a reforming force and points toward the role of institutions, accountability, and credible resistance in limiting harm.