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Who really said it

The quality of mercy is not strained; 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

Written by William Shakespeare 1564–1616 · English playwright, poet and actor
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The lines are Portia’s in The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, scene 1, where she is disguised as the lawyer Balthazar and pleading with Shylock. They are present in the play’s first printing, the 1600 quarto, in original spelling — “The qualitie of mercie is not straind” — so the attribution to Shakespeare is confirmed against the earliest surviving text.

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“The quality of mercy is not strained; 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” William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act 4, scene 1 — spoken by Portia. First printed in the 1600 quarto. Verified via Quotle.info

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In context

Evoking the world of William Shakespeare — English playwright, poet and actor. Theme: "The quality of mercy is not strained; 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". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The source

Work
The Merchant of Venice
Passage
Act 4, scene 1 — Portia, disguised as the lawyer Balthazar, to Shylock
Written
Between 1596 and 1598; named by Francis Meres in 1598
First printed
1600, London — quarto printed by James Roberts for Thomas Heyes

SHYLOCK On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.

PORTIA The quality of mercy is not strained.
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.
’Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown. Act 4, scene 1

Modern-spelling text from the Folger Shakespeare Library ↗, whose edition “is based directly on the 1600 quarto.” That quarto prints the opening as “The qualitie of mercie is not straind.”

First quarto, 1600
See the 1600 quarto facsimile details
Internet Shakespeare Editions: The Merchant of Venice, Quarto 1 (1600), Act 4, scene 1

How we know

Public domain

The passage was first printed in 1600, in the quarto that James Roberts printed for Thomas Heyes, and the play is long out of copyright — Project Gutenberg distributes the full text freely. Individual modern editions can carry copyright in their own editorial apparatus (notes, glosses, line numbering), but Shakespeare’s words themselves are free to reuse.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

What gets garbled

This one is not a fake — it is genuinely Shakespeare, and it is in the earliest surviving printing of the play. What travels badly is who is speaking, and the exact letters.

Shakespeare, quoted as personal creed Context

The sentence is Portia’s courtroom argument, delivered while she is disguised as a young lawyer called Balthazar and trying to talk Shylock out of his bond — not a maxim Shakespeare offers in his own voice. The Folger text of the scene ↗ shows it answering Shylock’s “On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.”

“twice blessed” for “twice blest” Variant

The 1600 quarto has “twise blest” (old-spelling transcription ↗) and the Folger modernises it as “twice blest”; other editions print “bless’d”, as Wikiquote ↗ does. Modern quotation usually smooths it to “twice blessed”.

“strained” read as “filtered” Sense

In the quarto the word is “straind”, and it sits directly after Shylock’s demand to know on what compulsion he must be merciful — the point being that mercy cannot be forced. Reading it as a strainer metaphor reverses the argument Portia is making.

The Book of Deuteronomy Echo

Wikipedia’s article on the speech records that the scholar Harold Fisch identified a parallel with Deuteronomy 32:2 ↗. The rain-from-heaven image has scriptural ancestry; the sentence quoted here is Shakespeare’s own and is not scripture.

It really is Shakespeare: Portia, The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, scene 1, printed in the 1600 quarto ↗ that James Roberts printed for Thomas Heyes.

Context

Why it mattered

The speech is an answer to a question. Shylock has just been asked to be merciful and has replied, in the Folger text, “On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.” Portia—a woman in a Venetian courtroom, disguised as a young lawyer called Balthazar—takes the word compulsion and turns it inside out. Mercy that can be compelled is not mercy at all; it falls of its own accord, like rain.

That is what “not strained” carries in the line: not forced, not squeezed out under pressure. The modern ear tends to hear a kitchen strainer and read it as “unfiltered,” which loses the argument Portia is actually making against Shylock’s demand for compulsion.

“On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.” The whole speech is the reply.

A note on the biblical echo

Wikipedia’s article on the speech records that the scholar Harold Fisch identified a parallel between its opening lines and Deuteronomy 32:2, and that Portia goes on to call mercy “an attribute to God Himself.” The imagery of doctrine falling as rain has scriptural ancestry; the sentence itself does not. The words are Shakespeare’s, and they are in the 1600 quarto.

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Filed under

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Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, scene 1folger.edu

The Folger Shakespeare Library’s modern-spelling text of the whole scene, including Shylock’s “On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.” and Portia’s reply.
The Merchant of Venice, Quarto 1 (1600) — old-spelling text of 4.1internetshakespeare.uvic.ca

Transcription of the 1600 quarto, printing the lines as “The qualitie of mercie is not straind…” with the speech prefix “Por.”
Facsimile information for the 1600 first quartointernetshakespeare.uvic.ca

Details of the physical book: printed by James Roberts for Thomas Heyes, London 1600; copies at the Boston Public Library and the British Library (the Garrick copy).
Wikiquote: The Merchant of Veniceen.wikiquote.org

Sourced quotation page, citing the passage to Portia at Act IV, scene i, line 179.
Wikipedia: “The quality of mercy”en.wikipedia.org

Background on the speech, Portia’s disguise as the lawyer Balthazar, and Harold Fisch’s note on the parallel with Deuteronomy 32:2.
The Merchant of Venice (free ebook)gutenberg.org

Project Gutenberg’s full public-domain text of the play, first released 1 July 2000.

The author

About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

1564–1616 · English playwright, poet and actor

Shakespeare was baptised at Stratford-upon-Avon on 26 April 1564 and died there on 23 April 1616; his birth is conventionally dated 23 April, though the actual day is unknown. He worked in London as a playwright, poet and actor, and was a part-owner of a playing company. The Merchant of Venice was written between 1596 and 1598 — Francis Meres named it in 1598 — and reached print in a quarto of 1600.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

How to cite this

William Shakespeare, “The quality of mercy is not strained,” Portia, in The Merchant of Venice, act 4, sc. 1. First printed as The most excellent Historie of the Merchant of Venice (London: I. R. [James Roberts] for Thomas Heyes, 1600). Modern-spelling text from the Folger Shakespeare Library edition, which states that it “is based directly on the 1600 quarto.”

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The quality of mercy is not strained; 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’?” Last verified 4 Aug 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-quality-of-mercy-is-not-strained-it-droppeth-as-the/

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