Clemency Quotes

There are in you two qualities that God loves: clemency [al-hilm] and forbearance [al-ana, "nobleness," "tolerance"]. ~ Tariq Ramadan

In social life, in the family government, in the Church, and in the State this is an acknowledged and invariable law. The debtor would be incapable of appreciating the clemency which cancelled the debt, so long as he denied either the existence or the justice of the claim. Unconscious of the obligation, he would be insensible to the grace that remitted it. ~ Octavius Winslow

The uncommon abilities and fortune of Severus have induced an elegant historian to compare him with the first and greatest of the Caesars. The parallel is, at least, imperfect. Where shall we find, in the character of Severus, the commanding superiority of the soul, the generous clemency, and the various genius, which could reconcile and unite the love of pleasure, the thirst of knowledge, and the fire of ambition? ⁴⁴

⁴⁴ Though it is not, most assuredly, the intention of Lucan to exalt the character of Caesar, yet the idea he gives of that hero, in the tenth book of the Pharsalia, where he describes him, at the same time making love to Cleopatra, sustaining a siege against the power of Egypt, and conversing with the sages of the country, is, in reality, the noblest panegyric. ~ Edward Gibbon

Children can be harsh judges when it comes to their parents, disinclined to grant clemency. ~ Jon Krakauer

I was brought up to believe that everyone brave is forgiven, but in wartime courage is cheap and clemency out of season. Unless ~ Chris Cleave

The wise man will not pardon any crime that ought to be punished, but he will accomplish, in a nobler way, all that is sought in pardoning. He will spare some and watch over some, because of their youth, and others on account of their ignorance. His clemency will not fall short of justice, but will fulfill it perfectly. ~ Seneca The Younger

Times were tough and the people were harsh and the clergy were cruel-cruel, and you know it! The most natural thing in the world is giving birth; you built your whole religion around it. And yet you poured pitch onto girls like me and sold us into slavery and took our humanity away from us twice, a third time, as often as you could. I was lucky, Father. I was only sent away. A decade earlier and where would I have been? I might have died in your asylums, me with the smart mouth. I killed one man but you would have killed me in the name of your god, wouldn't you? How many did you kill? How many lives did you destroy with your morality and your Seal of Confession and your lies? Now. For the absolution. Once God knows you're sorry he lets you off the hook, isn't that right?

Me? Oh, Father. I know I'm sorry. What about you? Bless me Ireland for I have sinned. Go on, boy. No wonder you say infinitely God is brimming with the clemency, for how else would any of you bastards sleep at night? ~ Lisa McInerney

[The] self overcoming of justice: one knows the beautiful name it has given itself
mercy ... ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

A nation of slaves is always prepared to applaud the clemency of their master who, in the abuse of absolute power, does not proceed to the last extremes of injustice and oppression. ~ Edward Gibbon

A criminal trial is like a cultural in-flight test in which society projects its own history, fears, impatience, insolence, clemency, insecurities, dreams and nightmares upon facts ... What's inside is every fairy-tale monster, a brutal ogre, a bloodthirsty werewolf, an elegant vampire, a scheming devil, a bullying giant, a sneering troll, or maybe just an abusive stepfather. ~ Ron Franscell

Prayer is powerful! It fills the earth with mercy, it makes the Divine clemency pass from generation to generation; right along the course of the centuries wonderful works have been achieved through prayer. ~ Frances Xavier Cabrini

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. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. ~ Abraham Lincoln

I hope that a move toward clemency with Judge Afiuni would be a step towards the importance of maintaining a properly functioning justice system. ~ Noam Chomsky

The difference between the level of man's mind and that of the animal's equals to the Potential Energy; and the difference between the level of man's clemency and that of the animal's equals to the Kinetic Energy. Intellectuality is therefore a measure of Potential Energy, while Compassion is a measure of Kinetic Energy. After all, it is the heart which does the pumping and the synapse (aka, neuronal junction) which controls the transmission of the signals. ~ Ibrahim Ibrahim

Clemency, empathy, and leniency are the very chains that set us free. Fraternity and amity are our goals, our neighbors are our judges. We are all slaves and kings. The cause of one is the cause of all, and the mistake of one is the mistake of all. We see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and do no evil as it's not whether what we receive is evil, it's what we deliver. Our minds are bound to the truism of life, but our actions are bound to the law. We are free to embrace different dogmas. But we are obliged to the law in our actions. We build no temples, no sects. There are no monks or holy mentors. For creed is not vicious, those who call to the creed are loathsome, they use the simplicity of poor minds and the power they claim they have from the Eternal Force to maim the true faith and replace the holy commands with superstitions. I chose the rain as my Holy Force and I beg you not to follow me nor believe in my faith. You do not know the language of water, and you can't have faith in what you don't understand. ~ Mohamed Amer

You begged me for clemency once," he called over the dead reaches of the Fold, over the hungry shrieks of the horrors he had made. "Is this your idea of mercy?"
Another bullet hit the sand, only inches from us. Yes, I thought as the power rose up inside me, the mercy you taught me. ~ Leigh Bardugo

Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

Two orders of mankind are the enemies of church and state; the king without clemency, and the holy man without learning. ~ Saadi

That same year the same Yakovlev explained on television that the decree rehabilitating all those who had been persecuted since 1917 was not at all a measure of clemency, as people in the Party were saying, but of repentance: "We are not pardoning them, we are asking their pardon. The goal of this decree is to rehabilitate us, who by remaining silent and looking away were accomplices to these crimes." In short, there was a sudden consensus that for the last seventy years the country had been in the hands of a gang of criminals. ~ Emmanuel Carrere

The Porto Ricans at Harvard University believe that the crime was a horrible one and it should be punished, but death penalty would add to, and not detract from, its horrors," the Harvard students wrote. One of the student signatures on the letter was by Pedro Albizu y Campos who would later become a Puerto Rican promoter of ideals for the island's independence from the United States. ~ Yasmin Tirado-Chiodini

To be sure, following her arrest in 1975, she was unlikely to commit these kinds of crimes again. If the United States were a country that routinely forgave the trespasses of such people, there would be little remarkable about the mercy she received following her conviction. But the United States is not such a country; the prisons teem with convicts who were also led astray and who committed lesser crimes than Patricia. These unfortunate souls have no chance at even a single act of clemency, much less an unprecedented two. Rarely have the benefits of wealth, power, and renown been as clear as they were in the aftermath of Patricia's conviction. ~ Jeffrey Toobin

Francis Crawford did not look at the English warden. Instead he wandered to the high window and, gazing down on the mild English countryside, said soberly, 'Affinity? French blood runs in both England and Scotland; their tongue is no barrier. As for religion … Identity of faith is small recommendation. Freedom of faith, surely, is what must be sought for: tolerance between every sect and its neighbour; clemency from every government. Otherwise you have men fighting from conviction who might as well be fighting from devilment: the thing has no more sense in it than your young Allendale's cocks, slashing each other to death only because one will not give way to the other. And if there is to be tolerance, where do you think we may look for it? To England? Or to France, rather? ~ Dorothy Dunnett

The Americas became a symbol of clemency, of a second chance. ~ Neil Gaiman

Much more may a judge overweigh himself in cruelty than in clemency. ~ Philip Sidney

From the moment of birth, the hunger of death feeds from an army of life. Day by day it creeps ever closer, a silent, merciless hunter, its endurance without end, its clemency non-existent. It chews on the mind, feeds on the body, digests the spirit, and regurgitates the soul. It is the single, inescapable, inevitable end of everyone, and ~ Thomas L. Scott

Be calm! I entreat you to hear me, before you give vent to your hatred on my devoted head. Have I not suffered enough that you seek to increase my misery? Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it. Remember, thou hast made me more powerful than thyself; my height is superior to thine; my joints more supple. But I will not be tempted to set myself in opposition to thee. I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and docile to my natural lord and king, if thou wilt also perform thy part, the which thou owest me. Oh, Frankenstein, be not equitable to every other, and trample upon me alone, to whom thy justice, and even thy clemency and affection, is most due. Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous."

"Begone! I will not hear you. There can be no community between you and me; we are enemies. Begone, or let us try our strength in a fight, in which one must fall."

"How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion? Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity: but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hope ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Clemency marvelled, trying a purple eyeshadow shot with gold sparkly bits on the back of her hand ~ Jill Mansell

I think he overlook a phase: that empathy stage in our lives when we may begin to see even the commonest animals on their own terms, fellow creatures with their own needs to meet and hardships to bear, joined with us in the mystery of life and death--and frankly, for all of our more exalted endowments, not all that much less enlightened than the sagest of naked apes about the meaning of it all.

That kinship is to me reason enough to go about my own way in the world showing each one as much courtesy as I can, refraining from things that bring animals needless harm. They all seem to have enough dangers coming at them as it is. Whenever human beings with our loftier gifts and grander calling in the world can stop to think on their well-being, if only by withdrawing to let them be, it need not be a recognition of 'rights.' It is just a gracious thing, an act of clemency only more to our credit because the animals themselves cannot ask for it, or rebuke us when we transgress against them, or even repay our kindness. ~ Matthew Scully

Courage and clemency are equal virtues. ~ Delarivier Manley

The clemency of Princes is often but policy to win the affections of the people. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods. ~ Claudius Claudianus

The prospect that a person will be killed according to the policy he promulgates prompts the [priest] to urge clemency, an incomprehensible position logically. ~ Helen Prejean

God's forgiveness allows us to be honest with ourselves. We recognize our imperfections, admit our failures, and plead to God for clemency. ~ Jonathan Sacks

Offer it up personally,then. Right now. I thought of how many people go to their graves unforgiven and unforgiving. I thought of how many people have had siblings or friends or children or lovers disappear from their lives before precious words of clemency or absolution could be passed along. How do the survivors of terminated relationships ever endure the pain of unfinished business? From that place of meditation, I found the answer-you can finish the business yourself, from within yourself. It's not only possible, it's essential. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

Blue Planet Phenomenon.

she's from the pink planet called Constellation
he's from the dark planet beyond
under a constant monitor
no love a interplanetary phenomenon

he's an interstellar
she's studying astronomy
what they have seen sets in motion their biology
they will meet on the blue planet
they should know better
it's death if they get together

interplanetary love is forbidden
their passion keep it hidden
they should know better
but they must be together
to the blue planet
love velocity interstellar

crossing Earth's longitudes
hiding their love in the new years eve multitudes
they should know better
their love still not allowed
under another planets blanketing cloud

Planet Earth in unified love
new years eve blue planet phenomenon
she will fall pregnant
their baby conceived at a time of human unity
their unborn baby and united humanity
become one in harmony

interstellar before they're discovered
too late their love uncovered
they should know better
it's death for forbidden love together

trial on dark planet
they will all die today
"kill them now"
judgment say

they plea for their unborn baby's mercy
a reprieve
child leniency
only for their baby clemency

"bring on the birth" authoritie ~ R.M. Romarney

Clemency is also a revolutionary measure. ~ Camille Desmoulins

Clemency is the noblest trait which can reveal a true monarch to the world. ~ Pierre Corneille

The seeds of freedom ... have now been scattered where despotism and tyranny ranked and ruled, will be watered by the enlivening dews of God's clemency, till the reapers abolitionists shall shout the harvest home. ~ Henry McNeal Turner

There's no other life for me. Anyway, clemency wouldn't begin to repay your debt. I've given you a greater gift than you know."
"What gift?"
"You'll find out. In return, I expect you to keep it safe."
Kelsea turned back to the mirror. "Great God, tell me you didn't impregnate me while I slept."
The fetch threw back his head and roared with laughter. He placed a friendly hand on Kelsea's back, making her skin prickle. "Tear Queen, you'll either be dead within a week or you'll be the most fearsome ruler this kingdom has ever known. I see no middle ground. ~ Erika Johansen

This is a boy's lot: anything he does, anything whatever, may afterward turn out to have been a crime - he never knows. And punishment and clemency are alike inexplicable. ~ Booth Tarkington

The Gauls were endowed with all the advantages of art and nature; but as they wanted courage to defend them, they were justly condemned to obey, and even to flatter, the victorious Barbarians, by whose clemency they held their precarious fortunes and their lives. ~ Edward Gibbon

Hell is nothing but a place we wish God has created for our enemies, we ourselves think that he will ultimately show some kind of clemency towards us ~ Bangambiki Habyarimana

The facts of life do not penetrate to the sphere in which our beliefs are cherished; they did not engender those beliefs, and they are powerless to destroy them; they can inflict on them continual blows of contradiction and disproof without weakening them; and an avalanche of miseries and maladies succeeding one another without interruption in the bosom of a family will not make it lose faith in either the clemency of its God or the capacity of its physician. ~ Marcel Proust