I am giving some quotes that may or may not be the ones you are looking for.
There are indeed verses in Hindu scripture that seem to show cruelty towards the lower classes. However, a Hindu is not supposed to agree with such verses.
A Hindu should not practice anything given in any scripture that is against the interest of another person. A Hindu has no obligation to follow scripture slavishly. Her only obligation is to truth. Critics of Hinduism are very quick to point out some of the bad things in Hindu scripture. They, however, 'forget' to add the warning in Hindu scripture not to follow such bad things.
If a holy act is against the interest of other members of the society,
it should not be practiced. It is Dharma which is the source of Artha
and even of Kama.
Kurma Purana I.2.54
The Smritis and the Puranas are productions of men of limited
intelligence and are full of fallacies, errors, the feelings of class
and malice. Only parts of them breathing broadness of spirit and love
are acceptable, the rest are to be rejected. The Upanishads and the
Gita are the true scriptures.
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 6/Epistles - Second Series/CXXIV
Liberality
- The Gods have not ordained hunger to be our death: even to the well-fed man comes death in varied shape. The riches of the liberal
never waste away, while he who will not give finds none to comfort
him. 2 The man with food in store who, when the needy comes in
miserable case begging for bread to eat, Hardens his heart against
him-even when of old he did him service-finds not one to comfort him.
3 Bounteous is he who gives unto the beggar who comes to him in want
of food and feeble. Success attends him in the shout of battle. He
makes a friend of him in future troubles. 4 No friend is he who to his
friend and comrade who comes imploring food, will offer nothing. Let
him depart-no home is that to rest in-, and rather seek a stranger to
support him. 5 Let the rich satisfy the poor implorer, and bend his
eye upon a longer pathway. Riches come now to one, now to another, and
like the wheels of cars are ever rolling. 6 The foolish man wins food
with fruitless labour: that food -I speak the truth- shall be his
ruin. He feeds no trusty friend, no man to love him. All guilt is he
who eats with no partaker. 7 The ploughshare ploughing makes the food
that feeds us, and with its feet cuts through the path it follows.
Better the speaking than the silent Brahman: the liberal friend out
yalues him who gives not. 8 He with one foot hath far outrun the
biped, and the two-footed catches the three-footed. Four-footed
creatures come when bipeds call them, and stand and look where five
are met together. 9 The hands are both alike: their labour differs.
The yield of sister milch-kine is unequal. Twins even differ in their
strength and vigour: two, even kinsmen, differ in their bounty.
Rig Veda 10.117
Helping the indigent
Bhishma said, "Whatever wishes one entertains with respect to
oneself, one should certainly cherish with respect to another. With
the surplus wealth one may happen to own one should relieve the wants
of the indigent. It is for this reason that the Creator ordained the
practice of increasing one's wealth (by trade or laying it out at
interest)."
Mahabharata, Santi Parva, Section CCLIX
Fellow-feeling
Austerity, purity, fellow-feeling and truth are the four qualities of
Dharma…
Srimad Bhagavata Purana I.17.24
Need to feel for the afflicted
A Brahmana might be even-sighted and calm in disposition. But if he
cannot sympathise with the afflicted, all the merits of his austerity
come to naught like water kept in a broken pot.
Srimad Bhagavata Purana !V.14.41
Service to the afflicted humans
I abide in all beings as their inner-most soul. Disregarding My
presence within them, men make a show of worshiping Me through images.
If one disregards Me present in all as their soul and Lord but
ignorantly offers worship only to images, such worship is as
ineffective as a sacrificial offering made in ashes. A man who
persecutes Me residing in others, who is proud and haughty, who looks
upon God as the other – such a person will never attain to peace of
mind. If a man disregards and persecutes fellow beings, but worships
Me in images with numerous rituals and rich offerings, I am not at all
pleased with him for proffering such worship. A man should, however,
worship Me in images, side by side with discharging his duties, which
include the love of all beings, until he actually realises My presence
in in himself and in all beings. As long as man is self-centred and
makes an absolute distinction between himself and others (without
recognising the unity of all in Me, the Inner Pervader), he will be
subject to the great fear of Death (including every form of
deprivation of self-interest). So, overcoming the separateness of a
self-centred life, one should serve all beings with gifts, honour and
love, recognising that such service is really being rendered to Me who
reside in all beings as their innermost soul.
Srimad Bhagavata Purana III.29.21-27
King's duties
A King will attain to joy in this world and the next, if he protects
his subjects from oppressive officers and thieves, and collects taxes
in accordance with the scriptural law.
Srimad Bhagavata Purana IV.14.17
King gets merits or demerits
The King derives his highest good by protecting his people. A King who
protects his people well, will derive one-sixth of the merits of his
subjects in the life hereafter. But a King who collects taxes from
people without administering their affairs properly, will lose all the
merits to his credit and will inherit the sins of his people to boot.
Srimad Bhagavata Purana iV.20.14
Importance of service
Narada said, ‘Yet just as the heavenly wish-yielding Tree, the
Kalpakavriksa, gives one’s objects of desire only when one goes under
it and prays for what one wants, so Thy grace too is bestowed on men
through the service of Thee. Blessings come according to service, not
on considerations of high and low.
Srimad Bhagavata Purana VII.9.27
Tenderness towards all creatures
"Besides these their respective obligations, there are duties equally
incumbent upon all the four castes. These are, the acquisition of
property, for the support of their families; cohabitation with their
wives, for the sake of progeny; tenderness towards all creatures,
patience, humility, truth, purity, contentment, decency of decoration,
gentleness of speech, friendliness; and freedom from envy and
repining, from avarice, and from detraction. These also are the duties
of every condition of life.
Vishnu Purana III.viii.1-
Vidura on virtue
Vidura said, ‘Study of the various scriptures, asceticism, gift,
faith, performance of sacrifices, forgiveness, sincerity of
disposition, compassion, truth, self-restraint, these constitute
possessions of Virtue. Do thou adopt Virtue. Let not, thy heart ever
turn away from it. Both Virtue and Profit have their roots in these. I
think that all these are capable of being included in one term. It is
upon Virtue that all the worlds depend (for their existence). It is by
Virtue that the gods attained to their position of superiority. It is
upon Virtue that Profit or Wealth rests. Virtue, O king, is foremost
in point of merit. Profit is said to be middling. Desire, it is said
by the wise, is the lowest of the three. For this reason, one should
live with restrained soul, giving his attention to virtue most. One
should also behave towards all creatures as he should towards
himself.
Mahabharata Santi Parva Section CLXVII
Vidura on Kindness
Ablution in all the holy places and kindness to all creatures –
these two are equal. Perhaps, kindness to all creatures surpasseth the
former.
Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva, Section 35
Rule of Righteousness
Vrihaspati said, 'That man who practises the religion of universal
compassion achieves his highest good. .. He who, from motives of his
own happiness, slays other harmless creatures with the rod of
chastisement, never attains to happiness, in the next world. That man
who regards all creatures as his own self, and behaves towards them as
towards his own self, laying aside the rod of chastisement and
completely subjugating his wrath, succeeds in attaining to happiness.
The very deities, who are desirous of a fixed abode, become stupefied
in ascertaining the track of that person who constitutes himself the
soul of all creatures and looks upon them all as his own self, for
such a person leaves no track behind. One should never do that to
another which one regards as injurious to one's own self. This, in
brief, is the rule of Righteousness.
Mahabharata Anusasana Parva, Section CXIII
King must behave like father and protector and not like a tyrant
O king, thou shalt not swerve from virtue. Those men only, O
Yudhishthira, whose practices resemble those of robbers, cause a king
by their counsels to take to a career of war and victory. That king
who, guided by considerations of place and time and moved by an
understanding dependent on the scriptures, pardons even a number of
robbers, incurs no sin. That king who, realising his tribute of a
sixth, doth not protect his kingdom, taketh a fourth part of the sins
of his kingdom. Listen also to that by which a king may not swerve
from virtue. By transgressing the scriptures (one incurs sill), while
by obeying them one may live fearlessly. That king who, guided by an
understanding based upon the scriptures and disregarding lust and
wrath, behaves impartially, like a father, towards all his
subjects, never incurs sin. O thou of great splendour, if a king,
afflicted by destiny, fails to accomplish an act which he should, such
failure would not be called a trespass. By force and policy should the
king put down his foes. He must not suffer sin to be perpetrated in
his kingdom but should cause virtue to be practised. Brave men, those
that are respectable in their practices, they that are virtuous in
their acts, they that are possessed of learning, O Yudhishthira,
Brahmanas conversant with Vedic texts and rites, and men of wealth,
should especially be protected. In determining suits and accomplishing
religious acts, they that are possessed of great learning should alone
be employed. A prudent king will never repose his confidence upon one
individual, however accomplished. That king who does not protect his
subjects, whose passions are ungovernable, who is full of vanity, who
is stained with haughtiness and malice, incurs sin and earns the
reproach of tyranny. If the subjects of a king, O monarch, waste away
from want of protection and are afflicted by the gods and ground down
by robbers, the sin of all this stains the king himself. There is no
sin, O Yudhishthira, in doing an act with heartiness, after full
deliberation, and consultation with men capable of offering good
advice. Our tasks fail or succeed through destiny. If exertion,
however, be applied, sin would not touch the king.
Mahabharata Santi Parva Section XXIV
Maintenance of Social Harmony duty of a King
"Vyasa said, 'O thou of eyes like lotus petals, the protection of
subjects is the duty of kings. Those men that are always observant of
duty regard duty to be all powerful. Do thou, therefore, O king, walk
in the steps of thy ancestors. With, Brahmanas, penances are a duty.
This is the eternal ordinance of the Vedas. Penances, therefore, O
bull of Bharata's race, constitute the eternal duty of Brahmanas. A
Kshatriya is the protector of all persons in respect of their duties.
1 That man who, addicted to earthly possessions, transgresses
wholesome restraints, that offender against social harmony, should be
chastised with a strong hand. That insensate person who seeks to
transgress authority, be he an attendant, a son, or even a saint,
indeed,--all men of such sinful nature, should by every means be
chastised or even killed. That king who conducts himself otherwise
incurs sin. He who does not protect morality when it is being
disregarded is himself a trespasser against morality. The Kauravas
were trespassers against morality. They have, with their followers,
been slain by thee. Thou hast been observant of the duties of thy own
order. Why then, O son of Pandu, dost thou indulge in such grief? The
king should slay those that deserve death, make gifts to persons
deserving of charity, and protect his subjects according to the
ordinance.'
Mahabharata Santi Parva Section XXXII
Lying is allowed to save the life of a Sudra
Manu Smriti is usually criticized for it's illiberal attitude towards Sudras. There is one verse that is an exception.
शूद्रविड् क्षत्रविप्राणां यत्रऋतोक्तौ भवेद् वधः । तत्र वक्तव्यमनृतं
तद् हि सत्याद् विशिष्यते ॥ १०४ ॥
śūdraviḍ kṣatraviprāṇāṃ yatraṛtoktau bhaved vadhaḥ | tatra
vaktavyamanṛtaṃ tad hi satyād viśiṣyate || 104 ||
Where the telling of the truth would lead to the death of a Śūdra, a
Vaiśva, a Kṣatriya or a Brāhmaṇa,—in that case falsehood should be
spoken; as that is preferable to truth.
Manu Smriti 8.104
Women and Sudras need help
But ignorant persons like women and the Sudras, who have had no
facilities to hear about the Lord’s excellences and take His name,
deserve to be pitied (and helped) by personages like you.
Srimad Bhagavata Purana XI.5.4
