William Shakespeare Quotes
Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so; Pardon is still the nurse of second woe.
Shakespeare, William. Measure for Measure. The Riverside Shakespeare, edited by G. Blakemore Evans, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1997, Act 2, Scene 1.
William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. They also continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
