---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Better make penitents by gentleness than…"
description: "\"Better make penitents by gentleness than hypocrites by severity.\" — Saint Francis de Sales"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3b/saint-francis-de-sales-2108_gentleness_better-make-penitents-by-gentleness-than_2835705.png"
---

#  Better make penitents by gentleness than hypocrites by…

![“Better make penitents by gentleness than hypocrites by severity.” quote by Saint Francis de Sales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3b/saint-francis-de-sales-2108_gentleness_better-make-penitents-by-gentleness-than_2835705.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3b/saint-francis-de-sales-2108_gentleness_better-make-penitents-by-gentleness-than_2835705.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3b/saint-francis-de-sales-2108_gentleness_better-make-penitents-by-gentleness-than_2835705.png)

> “Better make penitents by gentleness than hypocrites by severity.”

[Saint Francis de Sales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-francis-de-sales/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Gentle guidance reforms better than harsh punishment; kindness is more effective than severity.

**In simple terms:** Gentleness reforms, severity fails.

Key Takeaway

Practice gentle correction.

Themes

morality gentleness reformation discipline

Mood

compassionate reflective

Type

ethical practical

When to use this quote

- parenting
- teaching
- leadership
- conflict resolution

Key Concepts

kindness authority education spirituality

Questions to Reflect On

- When is firmness necessary?
- How can gentleness be applied in strict environments?

A Different Perspective

May be seen as too idealistic.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Gentleness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gentleness/) [Gentleness Hypocrites](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gentleness-hypocrites-3689015/) [Hypocrite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hypocrite/) [Hypocrites Severity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hypocrites-severity-3689017/) [Make Penitents](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/make-penitents-3689016/) [Penitents Gentleness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/penitents-gentleness-3689014/) [Severity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/severity/)

## Related quotes

> [Severity is allowable where gentleness has no effect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-corneille/severity-is-allowable-where-gentleness-has-no-effect/)

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> [When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-francis-de-sales/when-you-encounter-difficulties-and-contradictions-do-not-try-to/)

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> [If you would fall into any extreme, let it be on the side of gentleness. The human mind is so constructed that it resists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-francis-de-sales/if-you-would-fall-into-any-extreme-let-it-be-on-the-side-of/)

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> [Much is said about English severity, but not a word about Irish provocation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-peel/much-is-said-about-english-severity-but-not-a-word-about-irish/)

[Robert Peel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-peel/)

> [People notice peacemakers because they dress funny. We know how the people who make war dress - in uniforms and medals, or in computers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-brueggemann/people-notice-peacemakers-because-they-dress-funny-we-know-how-the/)

[Walter Brueggemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-brueggemann/)

> [This avoidance of the difficult things of Scripture — of sinfulness and hell and God’s notable severity — is idolatrous and cowardly. If a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-chandler/this-avoidance-of-the-difficult-things-of-scripture-of-sinfulness-and/)

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> [A victorious general must know how to employ severity, justness, and mildness by turns, if he would allay sedition or prevent it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/a-victorious-general-must-know-how-to-employ-severity-justness-and/)

[Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/)

> [In slave times the Negro was kept subservient and submissive by the frequency and severity of the scourging, but, with freedom, a new system…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/in-slave-times-the-negro-was-kept-subservient-and-submissive-by-the/)

[Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/)

> [If a close examination of the evidences of Christianity may be expected of one class of men more than another, it would seem incumbent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-greenleaf/if-a-close-examination-of-the-evidences-of-christianity-may-be/)

[Simon Greenleaf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-greenleaf/)

> [Here one must think profoundly to the very basis and resist all sentimental weakness: life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/here-one-must-think-profoundly-to-the-very-basis-and-resist-all/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [Men had better be without education than be educated by their rulers; for their education is but the mere breaking in of the steer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hodgskin/men-had-better-be-without-education-than-be-educated-by-their-rulers/)

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> [Summer, as my friend Coleridge waggishly writes, has set in with its usual severity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/summer-as-my-friend-coleridge-waggishly-writes-has-set-in-with-its/)

[Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/)

> [If you take every challenge everyone has in their life and multiply it in severity you get what it's like in the life of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dee-wallace/if-you-take-every-challenge-everyone-has-in-their-life-and-multiply/)

[Dee Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dee-wallace/)

> [A great reserve and severity of manners are necessary for the command of those who are older than ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/a-great-reserve-and-severity-of-manners-are-necessary-for-the-command/)

[Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/)

> [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/)

[Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/)

## More by Saint Francis de Sales

> [Flowers often grow more beautifully on dung-hills than in gardens that look beautifully kept.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-francis-de-sales/flowers-often-grow-more-beautifully-on-dung-hills-than-in-gardens/)

[Saint Francis de Sales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-francis-de-sales/)

> [Friendship requires great communication.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-francis-de-sales/friendship-requires-great-communication/)

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> [The thoughts of those moved by natural human love are almost completely fastened on the beloved, their hearts are filled with passion for it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-francis-de-sales/the-thoughts-of-those-moved-by-natural-human-love-are-almost/)

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> [It matters little how one begins, provided that he be resolved to go on well, and to end well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-francis-de-sales/it-matters-little-how-one-begins-provided-that-he-be-resolved-to-go/)

[Saint Francis de Sales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-francis-de-sales/)

> [Those who love to be feared fear to be loved, and they themselves are more afraid than anyone, for whereas other men fear only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-francis-de-sales/those-who-love-to-be-feared-fear-to-be-loved-and-they-themselves-are/)

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> [Go to your confessor; open your heart to him; display to him all the recesses of your soul; take the advice that he will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-francis-de-sales/go-to-your-confessor-open-your-heart-to-him-display-to-him-all-the/)

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## More Gentleness quotes

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> [“I’m a man of stone - and my hands are not soft enough to brush away, each stray wisp of hair”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-j-geddes/i-m-a-man-of-stone-and-my-hands-are-not-soft-enough-to-brush-away/)

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> [I started understanding that my strength is my gentleness. A leader isn't a dictator, a leader is a servant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-gaskins/i-started-understanding-that-my-strength-is-my-gentleness-a-leader/)

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> [Your gentleness shall force More than your force move us to gentleness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/your-gentleness-shall-force-more-than-your-force-move-us-to-gentleness/)

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> [“There are gentler and more graceful ways to interface with natural conflict.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/there-are-gentler-and-more-graceful-ways-to-interface-with-natural/)

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