Thomas Aquinas, an Italian Catholic priest, Dominican friar, philosopher, and doctor born in 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy affirmed a relationship between mercy and justice when he said in one of his mercy quotes that justice without mercy is cruelty and that mercy without justice is the mother of all dissolution. While many philosophers, poets, authors, and academics posit that forgiveness is mercy, not justice. Others like Thomas believe that mercy is justice in his mercy quotes.
William Shakespeare in his play Merchant of Venice captured mercy and forgiveness in using the character Shylock (who demanded his pound of flash) to display justice, while he used Antonio, to display mercy as a substituted justice. Mercy as a concept has been adopted by writers and speakers in their works producing a lot of “mercy quotes.”
Without further fuss, let us find out more on mercy quotes.
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Action plan on how to use your favorite quotes effectively
- Print it – Print your favorite quote onto paper and stick them up at obvious places around your house, like your bed frame, desk, dressing mirror, refrigerator or microwave.
- Desktop or mobile wallpaper – Type or work out a simple design (use Canva.com to make designing effortless) for your desktop or mobile wallpaper. Change it from time to time for empowering variations.
- Workplace / worktop – Frame your favorite quote up and place them so by your desk. Not only do you get inspired after each read, your colleagues might too.
- Pocket-size cut outs – Compile a list of your favorite quotes in wallet-size fittings. Keep them in your wallet or at the back of your pocket wherever you go. That way, you get to read through them conveniently wherever you go.
- Accelerate further – To this day, I am still constantly learning through paid educational platforms to improve my personal development and professional growth. Even though nowadays, multiple resources can be freely found online, but it’ll take a tremendous amount of effort and time to find what works. I know so and have been joining a premium, life-changing learning program called Mindvalley. It connects me to the world’s best teachers and community and I’ve been on their program since 2019. So yes, I know the programs taught inside work.
99 Best Mercy Quotes On Justice, Love And Forgiveness
- “Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” ― JRR. Tolkien
- “I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” ― Oscar Wilde
- “Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.” ― Carl Sagan
- “It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one.” ― Voltaire
- “I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.” ― Abraham Lincoln
- “For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.” ― G.K. Chesterton
- “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. (Psalms 116:1-2 NIV)”
- “Three months ago, if you asked me, I would have told you that if you really loved someone, you’d let them go. But now I look at you, and I dreamed about Maggie, and I see that I’ve been wrong. If you really love someone, Allie, I think you have to take them back.” ― Jodi Picoult
- “The world will give you that once in awhile, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life.” ― Sue Monk Kidd
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Mercy quotes about loving God
- “The reality of loving God is loving him like he’s a Superhero who actually saved you from stuff rather than a Santa Claus who merely gave you some stuff.” ― Criss Jami
- “Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.” ― Wendell Berry
- “10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and the remaining 80 percent can be moved in either direction.” ― Susan Sontag
- “Poor is the man whose pleasure depends on the permission of another.” ― Madonna
- “You cannot conceive, nor can I, of the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God.” ― Graham Greene
- “The Lord’s mercy often rides to the door of our heart upon the black horse of affliction.” ― Charles Spurgeon
- “Night is a time of rigor, but also of mercy. There are truths which one can see only when it’s dark” ― Isaac Bashevis Singer
- “In the heartfelt mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will visit us, to shine on those sitting in darkness, in the shadow of death, to guide our feet to the way of peace.”
- “She knows herself to be at the mercy of events, and she knows by now that events have no mercy.” ― Margaret Atwood
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Mercy quotes about having a big heart
- “Be gentle with him, Mercy. He’s got a heart as big as Texas— he’ll die for you without blinking. But he doesn’t expect anyone to do the same for him.” ― Nalini Singh
- “Lord help my poor soul.” ― Edgar Allan Poe
- “Mercy is the stuff you give to people that don’t deserve it.” ― Joyce Meyer
- “Always seek justice, but love only mercy. To love justice and hate mercy is but a doorway to more injustice.” ― Criss Jami
- “Pull the hair on my head the wrong way, and I would be on my knees begging for mercy. I have very sensitive follicles.” ― Benedict Cumberbatch
- “Let’s not be afraid of stilling our mind and having mercy with ourselves, and allowing us patience to recover from our dazzling unawareness and ignorance or from the inferno of overwhelming hassle. (“The umbrella”)” ― Erik Pevernagie
- “The glory of science is, that it is freeing the soul — breaking the mental manacles — getting the brain out of bondage — giving courage to thought — filling the world with mercy, justice, and joy.” ― Robert G. Ingersoll
- “But I want to be better than the lessons they taught me. I want my love to be greater that my hate, my mercy to be stronger than my vengeance.” ― Amy Engel
- “My father never taught me mercy. And can you not learn?” ― Leigh Bardugo
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Mercy quotes about justice
- “Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.” ― Thomas Aquinas
- “We angels are misconceived in the human world. People perceive us as kindly and bountiful; when, in truth, we are about as fluffy, as gentle, as yielding, as rattlesnakes.” ― Rebecca Lim
- “Because it strikes me there is something greater than judgement. I think it is called mercy.” ― Sebastian Barry
- “Withhold a smile only when the smile can hurt someone. Otherwise, let it bloom forth in a riot.” ― Vera Nazarian
- “Once you embrace your value, talents and strengths, it neutralizes when others think less of you.” ― Rob Liano
- If there is a single definition of healing it is to enter with mercy and awareness those pains, mental and physical, from which we have withdrawn in judgment and dismay. (48)” ― Stephen Levine
- “Satirize wickedness if you must–but pity weakness.” ― L.M. Montgomery
- “O child of God, be more careful to keep the way of the Lord, more concentrated in heart in seeking His glory, and you will see the loving-kindness and the tender mercy of the Lord in your life.” ― Charles Spurgeon
- “Even the smallest tender mercy can bring peace when recognized and appreciated.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich
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Best mercy quotes on begging
- “You do not beg the sun for mercy.” ― Frank Herbert
- “The Mercy of Allah is an Ocean, Our sins are a lump of clay clenched between the beak of a pigeon. The pigeon is perched on the branch of a tree at the edge of that ocean.It only has to open it’s beak” ― Leila Aboulela
- “Some people are desperate because they don’t know how to ask for His grace.” ― Bree Despain
- “What can you do how much can you give to bring grace and salvation unto even one soul” ― Bree Despain
- “Love, Mercy, and Grace, sisters all, attend your wounds of silence and hope.” ― Aberjhani
- “Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn’t mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness.” ― Timothy Keller
- “God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.” ― John Calvin
- “You cannot be fair to others without first being fair to yourself. Know that a well-honed sense of justice is a measure of personal experience, and all experience is a measure of self. Know that the highest expression of justice is mercy. Thus, as the supreme judge in your own court, you must have compassion for yourself. Otherwise, cede your gavel.” ― Vera Nazarian
- “Just above our terror, the stars painted this story in perfect silver calligraphy. And our souls, too often abused by ignorance, covered our eyes with mercy.” ― Aberjhani
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Mercy quotes on hope
- “Do you think it is a vain hope that one day man will find joy in noble deeds of light and mercy, rather than in the coarse pleasures he indulges in today — gluttony, fornication, ostentation, boasting, and envious vying with his neighbor? I am certain this is not a vain hope and that the day will come soon.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- “I was thinking, that when my time comes, I should be sorry if the only plea I had to offer was that of justice. Because it might mean that only justice would be meted out to me.” ― Agatha Christie
- “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant.”] The original Hebrew word that has been translated “paths” means “well-worn roads’ or “wheel tracks,” such ruts as wagons make when they go down our green roads in wet weather and sink in up to the axles. God’s ways are at times like heavy wagon tracks that cut deep into our souls, yet all of them are merciful.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon
- “Whether our days trip along like the angels mounting on Jacob’s ladder to heaven or grind along like the wagons that Joseph sent for Jacob, they are in each case ordered by God’s mercy.” ― Charles Spurgeon
- “When I said that Mercy stood Within the borders of the wood, I meant the lenient beast with claws And bloody swift-dispatching jaws.” ― Lawrence Spingarn
- “This institution of higher education had no such concept as mercy.” ― Marina Dyachenko
- “The fragility of our era is this, too: we don’t believe that there is a chance for redemption; for a hand to raise you up; for an embrace to save you, forgive you, pick you up, flood you with infinite, patient, indulgent love; to put you back on your feet. We need mercy.” ― Pope Francis
- “At this hour Lie at my mercy all mine enemies.” ― William Shakespeare
- “It is mercy, not justice or courage or even heroism, that alone can defeat evil.” ― Peter Kreeft
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Best mercy quotes on conscience
- “Every day my conscience makes confession relying on the hope of Your mercy as more to be trusted than its own innocence.” ― St. Augustine of Hippo
- “The Steadfast Love of the Lord is not Seasonal; His Mercies do not have winter or summer days… They are new every now and then.” ― Israelmore Ayivor
- “We do not want to have mercy for the things God has under judgment. We do not want to fall in the ditch on the other side of unsanctified mercy.” ― Rick Joyner
- “Never beg for mercy. Accept that you have failed. Begging is for dogs and humans.” ― Paolo Bacigalupi
- “I deserted the world and sought solitude because I became tired of rendering courtesy to those multitudes who believe that humility is a sort of weakness, and mercy a kind of cowardice, and snobbery a form of strength.” ― Kahlil Gibran
- “Keep out of this,” Lucian said. “I’m not smiting anybody.” “You’re showing mercy.” Catch-a-Tick nodded. “That’s heroic, too. But not as good as smiting.” ― Lloyd Alexander
- “…there is nothing unforgivable and there are no secrets before an all-knowing merciful God.” ― J.E.B. Spredemann
- “The time’s gone by for sentiment and all that foolery. Mercy’s all very well but after all it’s justice that clinches the bargain.” ― Walter de la Mare
- “…I fear that some of us understand just enough about the gospel to feel guilty–guilty that we are not measuring up to some undefinable standard–but not enough about the Atonement to feel the peace and strength, the power and mercy it affords us.” ― Sheri Dew
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Mercy quotes on becoming anything
- “There is your car and the open road, the fabled lure of random adventure. You stand at the verge, and you could become anything. Your future shifts and warps with your smallest step, your shitty little whims. The man you will become is at your mercy.” ― Dan Chaon
- “The conscious attempt to be a good person without Christ is as legalistic as an attempt to make it into Heaven through empty religiosity.” ― Criss Jami
- “Fame is not the reason why brands are created and erected. Be diligent, focused and chain unceasing prayers to God who will continue giving you cheers.” ― Israelmore Ayivor
- “Once, I remember, Father Abbot said that our purpose is justice, and with God lies the privilege of mercy. But even God, when he intends mercy, needs tools to his hand.” ― Ellis Peters
- “I need to accept God’s love and forgiveness, turning away from my sin and toward Him starting every day anew just as His mercies are new every morning.” ― Teresa Schultz
- “Let mercy keep company with courage. Follow my advice in this: if in battle you win a man’s surrender, then unless he has done you such grievance as amounts to heart’s sorrow, accept his oath, and let him live.” ― Wolfram von Eschenbach
- “I guess he didn’t know. I guess he didn’t know that good people die when bad things happen to them. The rest of us don’t get the luxury of mercy.” ― E.K. Barnes
- “Standing in the light of mercy undeserved I come to understand a Love of God that no one can measure!” ― John M. Sheehan
- “Mercy, I refused, hard-hearted to death till mercy showed me, love, from the cross of Calvary.” ― John M. Sheehan
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Best mercy quotes on what a man ought to seek
- “A man must seek mercy.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
- “Look for the mercy of the Lord God.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
- “If justice is what love sounds like when it speaks in public, then patience is what mercy sounds like out loud, and forgiveness is the accent with which grace speaks.” ― Michael Eric Dyson
- “There is no mountain or valley in the world that is covered with fog and does not look beautiful! And there is no one in the world whose heart is covered with mercy and does not have a beautiful heart!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan
- “The mercy of mother is just a drop from ocean of God’s mercy.” ― Kamaran Ihsan Salih
- “Raise your sword at me again and I shall show you no mercy!” ― S.P. Jordans
- “But now there was something eating his insides. There were worms in his stomach, creatures crawling in his intestines and spurting out of his guts. He was under the mercy of the word again.” ― Hanna Abi Akl
- “A mother shows mercy.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
- “Did Jesus build walls? His face is a face of mercy. The bigger the sinner, the warmer the welcome. Mercy is the dynamite that blows down walls.” ― Jonathan Pryce
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Mercy quotes on forgiveness and maturity
- “Forgiveness, I know now, is maturity. Mercy is maturity. It’s slow release, like certain medicines. It’s incremental, like traveling along the spiral chambers of a nautilus.” ― Anne Lamott
- “God’s mercy are new every morning.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
- “The point is that you can’t force a person to be merciful, because it’s based on grace. But once given, mercy blesses both the one who gives it as well as the one who’s fortunate to receive it.” ― Dan Salerno
- “It’s one small mercy that here in prison we don’t see anyone we don’t choose to see. In this way, prison is beautifully unlike real life. In real life, people from your past litter your life like cockroaches, popping out of crevices and scuttling across the dark.” ― Chelsea G. Summers
- “To everyone whose mercy is demanded, and who dreams instead of teeth.” ― Margaret Owen
- “To them, kindness was seen as weakness, mercy was perceived as cowardice and negotiation was a code word for a bullet in the head.” ― Neil Walker
- “How grateful is the troubled heart touched by mercy!” ― Richelle E. Goodrich
- “Forgiveness does not mean we minimize the sin or ignore the consequences that occurred as a result. It means we maximize our faith, trusting that both justice and mercy will be extended at God’s hand towards those affected.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich
- “What man who has lived for more than a score of years desires justice, warrior? For my part, I find mercy infinitely more attractive. Give me a forgiving deity any day.” ― Roger Zelazny
- “Attention is the first and final act of love, and that the ultimate dwindling resource in the human arrangement isn’t cheap oil or potable water or even common sense, but mercy.” ― Steve Almond
- “What is most important is the mercy of a new morning.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
- “In fact, there is strength, a power even, in understanding brokenness, because embracing our brokenness creates a need and desire for mercy, and perhaps a corresponding need to show mercy.” ― Bryan Stevenson
- “Where could we obtain mercy except in the throne of grace!” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
- “God please have mercy upon mankind.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
- “Mankind has no right to employ its genius in the creation of another intelligent species, then treat it like property. If we’ve come so far that we can create as God creates, then we have to learn to act with the justice and mercy of God.” ― Dean Koontz
- “The Lord’s mercy is what we need most every new morning.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
- “Without mercy there is misery.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
- “Mankind must treat each other with mercy.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
Which of these mercy quotes resonate with you the most?
Mercy in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts is forgiveness. The Bible poses mercy as compassion that forbears punishment even when justice demands it. A popular mercy quote adopted by Christians from the Bible says that blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. A popular mercy quote adopted by Christians from the Bible further said that blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
The idea of mercy in general mercy quotes is forgiveness. Mercy is also justice where forgiveness is the greater good. Shylock lost all that he had because he lacked the compassion needed for forgiveness and mercy to preside. He premeditated Antonio’s situation of debt and looted it like a goblin would with gold. For vengeance, Shylock lost all that mattered to him. Mercy is love freely given to one who does not merit it.
We are at the crossroad of curiosity, where we are anxious to know your best mercy quotes.
