THE QUALITY OF MERCY
Dictionary defines ‘mercy’ as capacity
for holding oneself back from punishing, or from causing suffering to, whom one
has the right or power to punish.
Some of the synonyms of ‘mercy’ are:
leniency, pity, forgiveness, generosity, charity, sympathy, kindness, soft-heartedness
and compassion.
Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547—1616)
said among the attributes of God, although they are all equal, mercy shines
with even more brilliance than justice.
Probably, the best of all quotes on this subject
is the sonnet written by the British dramatist and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616) which reads
as follows:
“The
quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It
droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,
Upon
the place beneath : it is twice bless’d;
It
blesseth him that gives and him that takes;
‘T is 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,
An
earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When
mercy seasons justice.
From:
Merchant of Venice, Act 4.
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G.R.KANWAL
7TH JULY 2023
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