be cruel to be kind

== English == === Etymology === From William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4: "I must be cruel, only to be kind: / Thus bad begins and worse remains behind." === Verb === be cruel to be kind (third-person singular simple present is cruel to be kind, present participle being cruel to be kind, simple past was cruel to be kind, past participle been cruel to be kind) (idiomatic) To act cruelly in order to achieve a positive outcome in the future. ==== See also ====