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.

'T is 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. Therefore, Jew,

Though justice be thy plea, consider this,

That in the course of justice none of us

Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act iv. Sc. 1.

If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act i. Sc. 3.

"I 've lost a day!"—the prince who nobly cried,

Had been an emperor without his crown.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 99.

Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,

And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,

Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,

No son of mine succeeding.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act iii. Sc. 1.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part II. Act iii. Sc. 1.

King Stephen was a worthy peer,

His breeches cost him but a crown;

He held them sixpence all too dear,—

With that he called the tailor lown.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act ii. Sc. 3.

King Stephen was a worthy peere,

His breeches cost him but a croune;

He held them sixpence all too deere,

Therefore he call'd the taylor loune.

He was a wight of high renowne,

And those but of a low degree;

Itt's pride that putts the countrye doune,

Then take thine old cloake about thee.

Thomas Percy (1728-1811): Take thy old Cloak about Thee.

Awake, my soul! stretch every nerve,

And press with vigour on;

A heavenly race demands thy zeal,

And an immortal crown.

Philip Doddridge (1702-1751): Zeal and Vigour in the Christian Race.

The other shape,

If shape it might be call'd that shape had none

Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb;

Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd,

For each seem'd either,—black it stood as night,

Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell,

And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head

The likeness of a kingly crown had on.

Satan was now at hand.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 666.

Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of steel.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): The Traveller. Line 436.

No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,

Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword,

The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,

Become them with one half so good a grace

As mercy does.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Measure for Measure. Act ii. Sc. 2.

From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot.

Beaumont And Fletcher: The Honest Man's Fortune. Act ii. Sc. 2.

The clear, sweet singer with the crown of snow

Not whiter than the thoughts that housed below.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891): To George William Curtis.

This is truth the poet sings,

That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): Locksley Hall. Line 75.

How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown,

Within whose circuit is Elysium

And all that poets feign of bliss and joy!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 2.