The Only Site On Which You'll Find Shakespeare Today
Peter Robinson ·
May 2, 2011 at 8:53am
Discussing the death of Osama bin Laden in "Ancillary Observations," below, Drew Klavan quotes Shakespeare:
"Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill," says the Prince in Romeo and Juliet. In other words, there are times when what feels virtuous and gentle is in fact brutal and wrong.
You want class?
Ricochet's got class.
Just sayin'.
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Re: The Only Site On Which You'll Find Shakespeare Today
We also had an apposite quote from Bertolt Brecht, I might note.
Nov '10
Re: The Only Site On Which You'll Find Shakespeare Today
Or one could add a little Aquinas:
"Therefore if a man be dangerous and infectious to the community...it is praiseworthy and advantageous that he be killed in order to safeguard the common good." (ST II-II, q. 64, a. 2)
Or as Aristotle said, man without virtue is worse than a beast...
Nov '10
Re: The Only Site On Which You'll Find Shakespeare Today
But he who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god: he is no part of a state. A social instinct is implanted in all men by nature, and yet he who first founded the state was the greatest of benefactors. For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with arms, meant to be used by intelligence and virtue, which he may use for the worst ends. Wherefore, if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony. But justice is the bond of men in states, for the administration of justice, which is the determination of what is just, is the principle of order in political society.