The very emphasis of the commandment: Thou shalt not kill, makes it certain that we are descended from an endlessly read more

The very emphasis of the commandment: Thou shalt not kill, makes it certain that we are descended from an endlessly long chain of generations of murderers, whose love of murder was in their blood as it is perhaps also in ours.

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
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O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

Blood, though it sleep a time, yet never dies.
The gods on murtherers fix revengeful eyes.

Blood, though it sleep a time, yet never dies.
The gods on murtherers fix revengeful eyes.

People think we had a love-hate relationship. Well, I did not love him, nor did I hate him. We had read more

People think we had a love-hate relationship. Well, I did not love him, nor did I hate him. We had mutual respect for each other, even as we both planned each other's murder.

Absolutism tempered by assassination.

Absolutism tempered by assassination.

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
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Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

Murder, like talent, seems occasionally to run in families.

Murder, like talent, seems occasionally to run in families.

Nor is there any law more just, than that he who has plotted
death shall perish by his own read more

Nor is there any law more just, than that he who has plotted
death shall perish by his own plot.
[Lat., Neque enim lex est aequior ulla,
Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.]

Cast not the clouded gem away,
Quench not the dim but living ray,--
My brother man, Beware!
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Cast not the clouded gem away,
Quench not the dim but living ray,--
My brother man, Beware!
With that deep voice which from the skies
Forbade the Patriarch's sacrifice.
God's angel, cries, Forbear!