What does this quote mean?

“Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?”

The rhetorical question mocks disproportionate retaliation by comparing an elaborate punishment with the crushing of something slight and fragile.

Source note: Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot, Sporus passage; the famous image occurs inside a sharp personal satire, so the hostile literary context is retained.

“Mercy rejoiceth against judgment.”

The brief clause gives mercy the final emphasis in a discussion of judgment, making compassion more than an optional softness.

Source note: James 2:13 in the King James Version; concluding clause of the verse.

“Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”

The short instruction treats forgiveness as a practice rather than merely a feeling: release is something a person does in response to another person’s fault.

Source note: Luke 6:37 in the King James Version; excerpt from the verse’s instruction about judgment and forgiveness.

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”

Error is treated as ordinary human limitation, while forgiveness requires an additional act of generosity.

Source note: An Essay on Criticism, Part II; Pope warns that shallow learning can produce premature confidence before deeper study tempers judgment.

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind.”

Love is defined partly through patience and kindness, shifting the idea from emotion alone toward repeated behavior under strain.

Source note: 1 Corinthians 13:4 in the King James Version; this is the opening clause of the verse.

“The quality of mercy is not strained.”

Portia begins by arguing that real mercy cannot be forced; its moral value comes from being freely given rather than mechanically compelled.

Source note: The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1; opening of Portia’s mercy speech during the trial.