Mercy among the virtues is like the moon among the stars,—not so sparkling and vivid as many, but dispensing a calm radiance that hallows the whole. It is the bow that rests upon the bosom of the cloud when the storm is past. It is the light that hovers above the judgment seat.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
In peace we can make many of them ignore good and evil entirely; in danger, the issue is forced upon them in a guise to which even we cannot blind them. There is here a cruel dilemma before us. If we promoted justice and charity among men, we should be playing directly into the Enemy’s hands; but if we guide them to the opposite behaviour, this sooner or later produces (for He permits it to produce) a war or a revolution, and the undisguisable issue of cowardice or courage awakes thousands of men from moral stupor. This, indeed, is probably one of the Enemy’s motives for creating a dangerous world-a world in which moral issues really come to the point. He sees as well as you do that courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty, or mercy, which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.
—C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) Irish-born British Academic, Author, Literary Scholar
Blessed are those who show mercy.
They will be treated mercifully.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
The greatest attribute of heaven is mercy.
—Francis Beaumont (1584–1616) English Elizabethan Dramatist
Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Who will not mercy unto others show, how can he mercy ever hope to have?
—Edmund Spenser (1552–99) English Poet
The merciful shall obtain mercy.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Mercy turns her back to the unmerciful.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
He who has compassion on his fellow man is accounted of the true seed of Abraham.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
We may imitate the Deity in all his moral attributes, but mercy is the only one in which we can pretend to equal him.—We cannot, indeed, give like God, but surely we may forgive like him.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
The mercy we to others show, Heaven will show to us.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The greatest attribute of heaven is mercy;
And ’tis the crown of justice, and the glory …
—John Fletcher (1579–1625) English Playwright
The just is close to the people’s heart, but the merciful is close to the heart of God.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Children are innocent and love justice, while most adults are wicked and prefer mercy.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
Offenders never pardon.
—Common Proverb
To sin because mercy abounds is the devil’s logic; he that sins because of God’s mercy, shall have judgment without mercy.—Mercy is not for them that sin and fear not, but for them that fear and sin not.
—Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (1874–1956) American Business Executive
O God, how beautiful the thought, how merciful the blest decree, that grace can always be found when sought, and nought shut out the soul from thee.
—Eliza Cook (1818–89) English Author, Poet
A God all mercy is a God unjust.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
As freely as the firmament embraces the world, or the sun pours forth impartially his beams, so mercy must encircle both friend and foe.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
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…
Though justice be thy plea, 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…
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Do not let mercy and truth leave you. Fasten them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will find favor and much success in the sight of God and humanity.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
A God all mercy, were a God unjust.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Religion and education are no match for evil without the grace of God.
—Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846) English Painter, Writer
Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods? Draw near them then in being merciful; sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A gentleman has his eyes on all those present; he is tender toward the bashful, gentle toward the distant, and merciful toward the absent.
—Lawrence G. Lovasik
And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.
—Wendell Berry (b.1934) American Poet, Novelist, Environmentalist
Mercy is like the rainbow, which God hath set in the clouds; it never shines after it is night.—If we refuse mercy here, we shall have justice in eternity.
—Jeremy Taylor