"I've taken plenty of lives that technically weren't mine to take. What's one more?" His hands were practically red with blood from a lot of people. Some of them were trying to kill Hawke and some were simply pawns of political powers. He could've added Anders blood and no one would've noticed.
Now, cruel things about himself? No. Hawke simply spoke the truth. These were things that were true about himself that he was aware of. He didn't think them cruel, but honest. Sometimes honesty wasn't very kind.
"If the apology was for possibly offending me, well, that's a very hard thing to do." Hawke could tolerate a lot of insulting and give as good as he got. "You've got nothing to apologize for, my friend. Actually, my friends have called me worse."