milk of human kindness en · NOUN
Etymology
First used by Shakespeare in Macbeth (see quotations).
Meanings
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(idiomatic, uncountable) Compassion shown to other people.
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be / What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 134, column 1:A pwt. of butter made from the milk of human kindness.
1846, editorial staff, “More Curiosities: For the new Fancy Museum”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 2, Issue 13, page 97: