William Shakespeare on Mercy
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“Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.”
“Whereto serves mercy, But to confront the visage of offence?”
“Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so; Pardon is still the nurse of second woe.”
“Open thy gate of mercy, gracious God! My soul flies through these wounds to seek out thee.”
“You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy; For your own reasons turn into your bosoms, As dogs upon their masters, worrying you.”
“Consider this, That in the course of justice none of us Should see salvation; we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy.”
“No ceremony that to great ones 'longs, Not the king's crown nor the deputed sword, The marshal's truncheon nor the judge's robe, Become them with one half so good a grace As mercy does.”
“The quality of mercy is not strain'd It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes; 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice.”