Mercy
n.;
1. Forbearance to inflict harm under circumstances of provocation, when one has the power to inflict it; compassionate treatment of an offender or adversary; clemency.
2. Compassionate treatment of the unfortunate and helpless; sometimes, favor, beneficence.
3. Disposition to exercise compassion or favor; pity; compassion; willingness to spare or to help.
4. A blessing regarded as a manifestation of compassion or favor.
in Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary,
© 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
"We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it."
(Winston Churchill)
Sonnet 145: Those lips that Love's own hand did make
Those lips that Love's own hand did make
Breathed forth the sound that said "I hate"
To me that languished for her sake;
But when she saw my woeful state,
Straight in her heart did mercy come,
Chiding that tongue that ever sweet
Was used in giving gentle doom,
And taught it thus anew to greet:
"I hate" she altered with an end,
That followed it as gentle day
Doth follow night, who like a fiend
From heaven to hell is flown away.
"I hate" from hate away she threw,
And saved my life, saying "not you."
William Shakespeare
