mercy

I learned in New Jersey that to be a Negro meant, precisely, that one was never looked at but was simplyat themercyofthereflexesthecolorofone'sskincaused in other people.

—Baldwin,James Arthur

Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means, Time held me green and dying Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

—Thomas, Dylan Marlais

That damnable woman's trick of heaping obligations on a man, of placing yourself so entirelyand helplesslyat his mercy that at last he dare not take a step without running to you for leave. I know a poor wretch whose one desire in life is to run away from his wife. She prevents him by threatening to throw herself in front of the engine of the train he leaves her in. That is what all women do. If we try to go where you do not want us to go there is no law to prevent us; but when we take the first step your breasts are under our foot as it descends: your bodies are under our wheels as we start. No woman shall ever enslave me in that way.

—Shaw, George Bernard

We're poor little lambs who've lost our way, Baa! Baa! Baa! We're little black sheep who've gone astray, Baa-aa-aa! Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree, Damned from here to eternity, God ha'mercy on such as we, Baa! Yah! Bah!

—Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard

God have mercy on the sinner Who must write with no dinner, No gravy and no grub, No pewter and no pub, No bellyand no bowels, Only consonants and vowels.

—Ransom,John Crowe

   The L ismy shepherd; Ishall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.Yea, though I walk through the valleyof theshadow of death,I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the L for ever.

—Bible (Old Testament)

We hand folks over to God's mercy, and show none ourselves.

—Eliot, George pseudonym of  MaryAnn Evans

But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them,They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.But go ye and learnwhat that meaneth,Iwill have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Have mercy upon all Jews,Turks, Infidels, and Hereticks, and take fromthem all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word.

—Book of Common Prayer

O God the Father of heaven: have mercy upon us miserable sinners.

—Book of Common Prayer

O L, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

—Bible (Old Testament)

   The feelings withwhichwe facethisnewage of right and opportunity sweep across our heartstrings like some air out of God's own presence, where justice and mercyare reconciled, and the judge and the brother are one.

—Wilson, (Thomas) Woodrow

He played an ancient ditty, long since mute, In Provence called,'La belle dame sans mercy'.

—Keats,John

I take to be the central fact to man born in America† I spell it large because it comes large here. Large and without mercy.

—Olson, Charles

Thwackum was for doing justice, and leaving mercy to heaven.

—Fielding, Henry

This day, much against my will, I did in Drury Lane see two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors, and 'Lord have mercy uponus'writ thereöwhich was a sad sight to me, being the first of that kind that to my remembrance I ever saw.

—Pepys, Samuel

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs isthe kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessedarethepeacemakers: for theyshall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness'sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessedare ye, whenmenshall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Politics come from man. Mercy, compassion, and justice come from God.

—Waite,Terry (Terence Hardy)

Ogivethanksuntothe L; forheisgood: forhismercy endureth for ever.

—Bible (Old Testament)

For Mercy has a human heart Pity a human face: And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress.

—Blake,William

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent emptyaway.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Teach me to feel another's woe; To hide the fault I see; That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me.

—Pope, Alexander

There was a laughing devil in sneer, That raised emotions both of rage and fear; And where his frown of hatred darkly fell, Hope withering fled, and Mercy sighed farewell!

—Rochdale

Reason to rule, but mercy to forgive: The first is law, the last prerogative.

—Dryden,John

A potent quack, long versed in human ills, Who first insults the victim whom he kills; Whose murd'rous hand a drowsy bench protect, And whose most tender mercy is neglect.

—Crabbe, George

Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?

—Robinson, Casey

The law of Moses is harsh and severe, as for an enslaved and stubborn people, but it punishes theft with a fine, not death. Let us not think that in his new law of mercy, where he treats us with the tenderness of a father,God has given us greater license to be cruel to one another.

—More, SirThomas

Hark! how all the welkin rings, Glory to the King of kings. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.

—Wesley, Charles

Hark! The herald angels sing! Beecham's Pills are just the thing, Two for a woman, one for a child, Peace on earth and mercy mild!

—Beecham, SirThomas

The L is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteousinmercy.He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever.He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

—Bible (Old Testament)

   We do not presume to come to this thyTable,O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thyTable.But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer

And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him,Go, and do thou likewise.

—Bible (NewTestament)

And God spake all these words, saying,Iamthe L thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that isinheaven above, or that isin the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the L thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thoushalt nottakethename of the L thy God invain; for the L will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember thesabbath day, to keep it holy. Six daysthou shalt labour and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the L thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the L made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the L blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long uponthelandwhichtheL thy Godgiveththee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

—Bible (Old Testament)

For Ithe Lord thy God ama jealous God, and visitthesins ofthefathersuponthe childrenuntothethird and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments.

—Book of Common Prayer

Their lot forbad: nor circumscribed alone Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined: Forbad to wade through slaughter to a throne, And shut the gates of mercy on mankind.

—Gray,Thomas

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is fromthe west, so far hath heremoved our transgressions from us.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Saying,We will fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men: for as his majesty is, so is his mercy.

—Bible (Apocrypha)

Ifell inloveöthat istheonlyexpression Icanthinkoföat once, and am still at the mercy of words, though sometimes now, knowing a little of their behaviour very well, I think I can influence them slightly and have even learned to beat them now and gain, which they appear to enjoy.

—Thomas, Dylan Marlais

Yet I shall temper so Justice with mercy.

—Milton,John

And all must love the human form, In heathen,Turk or Jew; Where mercy, Love and Pity dwell There God is dwelling too.

—Blake,William