Let me be cruel, not unnatural;
I will speak daggers to her, but use none;
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2. Hamlet is angry that his mother married before the mourning period for his father’s death was over. But even more furious that she married his uncle, now outed as the murderer of his father. Speaking metaphorically, he says that he will stab his mother, not with daggers, but with words.