Mercy

Mercy

Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French merci, from Medieval Latin merced-, merces, from Latin, "price paid, wages", from merc-, merxi "merchandise") is a broad term that refers to benevolence, forgiveness and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social and legal contexts.

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Famous quotes containing the word mercy:

    ‘Alas!’ quoth he, ‘but newly born in fiery heats I fry,
    Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I.
    My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns;
    Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;
    The fuel justice layeth on, and mercy blows the coals;
    The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls;
    Robert Southwell (1561?–1595)

    These doctors, they’ve got no mercy on you, ‘specially if you’re black. Ah! I’ve seen ‘em, many a time, but, they never come after me, I never gave ‘em a chance—not the first time.
    Sylvia Dubois (1788?–1889)

    Let us eat and drink neither forgetting death unduly nor remembering it. The Lord hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, etc., and the less we think about it the better.
    Samuel Butler (1835–1902)