pity (n.)

pity (v.)

pity (adj.)

Silence in love bewrays more woe

Than words, though ne'er so witty:

A beggar that is dumb, you know,

May challenge double pity.

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618): The Silent Lover.

And wiped our eyes

Of drops that sacred pity hath engender'd.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): As You Like It. Act ii. Sc. 7.

Careless their merits or their faults to scan,

His pity gave ere charity began.

Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride,

And even his failings lean'd to Virtue's side.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): The Deserted Village. Line 161.

He hath a tear for pity, and a hand

Open as day for melting charity.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part II. Act iv. Sc. 4.

Taught by that Power that pities me,

I learn to pity them.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): The Hermit. Chap. viii. Stanza 6.

Pity's akin to love.

Thomas Southerne (1660-1746): Oroonoka. Act ii. Sc. 1.

Of all the paths [that] lead to a woman's love

Pity's the straightest.

Beaumont And Fletcher: The Knight of Malta. Act i. Sc. 1.

Besides, this Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been

So clear in his great office, that his virtues

Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against

The deep damnation of his taking-off;

And pity, like a naked new-born babe,

Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed

Upon the sightless couriers of the air,

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,

That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,

And falls on the other.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act i. Sc. 7.

For pity melts the mind to love.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Alexander's Feast. Line 96.

But yet the pity of it, Iago! O Iago, the pity of it, Iago!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act iv. Sc. 1.

Lovely in death the beauteous ruin lay;

And if in death still lovely, lovelier there;

Far lovelier! pity swells the tide of love.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Night Thoughts. Night iii. Line 104.

That he is mad, 't is true: 't is true 't is pity;

And pity 't is 't is true.

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

And telling me, the sovereign'st thing on earth

Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;

And that it was great pity, so it was,

This villanous saltpetre should be digg'd

Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,

Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd

So cowardly; and but for these vile guns,

He would himself have been a soldier.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part I. Act i. Sc. 3.

Pity the sorrows of a poor old man,

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door,

Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span;

Oh give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.

Thomas Moss (1740-1808): The Beggar.

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,

As to be hated needs but to be seen;

Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,

We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 217.

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.

Old Testament: Proverbs xix. 17.

Are not within the leaf of pity writ.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Timon of Athens. Act iv. Sc. 3.

His heart kep' goin' pity-pat,

But hern went pity-Zekle.