Clemency alone mates us equal to the gods. [ Claudianus ]

It is clemency that makes the absolute conquest. [ Proverb ]

Tender-handed stroke a nettle, and 't stings you for your pains. [ Aaron Hill ]

Much more may a judge overweigh himself in cruelty than in clemency. [ Sir P. Sidney ]

Forgiveness, that noblest of all selfdenial, is a virtue which he alone who can practise in himself can willingly believe in another. [ Colton ]

Clemency, which we make a virtue of, proceeds sometimes from vanity, sometimes from indolence, often from fear, and almost always from a mixture of all three. [ Rochefoucauld ]