- 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.
