William Shakespeare on Forgiveness
1564–1616 England
← All quotes by William Shakespeare
9 quotes
Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.
Romeo and Juliet (1597)
Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;
Pardon is still the nurse of second woe.
Measure for Measure (1603)
Whereto serves mercy,
But to confront the visage of offence?
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.
Henry V (1599)
What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heaves
To wash it white as snow?
I pardon him, as God shall pardon me.
Richard II (1595)
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.
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.