…that word “grace.” In an ungracious mouth is but profane.
This first came across my radar as:
The word “grace,” in an ungracious mouth, is profane…
The quote comes from Richard II, Act 2, Scene 3. It’s a nice quote, but in context it doesn’t really mean what one might think. Here is more of that script, where you can also see the iambic pentameter of the text:
Enter DUKE OF YORK attended
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
I shall not need transport my words by you;
Here comes his grace in person. My noble uncle!
KneelsDUKE OF YORK
Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee,
Whose duty is deceiveable and false.HENRY BOLINGBROKE
My gracious uncle–DUKE OF YORK
Tut, tut!
Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle:
I am no traitor’s uncle; and that word ‘grace.’
In an ungracious mouth is but profane.
Why have those banish’d and forbidden legs
Dared once to touch a dust of England’s ground?
The above text is pulled from here.
