In truth, we have delayed to pass sentence on the person of our lord the king, waiting, if perhaps he may, by God's grace, repent; but we will pass it ere long unless he does repent.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the hope for repentance before judgment is made on the king's actions.
In this quote, Thomas Becket emphasizes the importance of mercy and the potential for redemption. He illustrates a moment of moral deliberation, highlighting the tension between the obligation to judge and the hope that the person in question can reflect on their actions and seek forgiveness before consequences are imposed.
In practice
During a discussion on leadership, one might reference this quote to illustrate the balance between justice and mercy.
It is important that the Church of London, which has now lost its ruler, should receive for its new bishop a man whose personal merit, attainments in learning, and prudence in managing public business shall not be unworthy of the dignity of that see.
I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace.
The more I loved the king, the more I opposed his injustice until his brow fell lowering upon me. He heaped calumny after calumny on my head, and I chose to be driven out rather than to subscribe.
Could I anticipate the enmity of those for whom I encountered such opposition? If they had been willing, I should have gained the victory. But the head faints when it is abandoned by the other members. If they had been wise they would have seen that in attacking me they were attacking their own privileges and serving princes to their own servitude.
Whosoever wisely examines the works of God will speedily discover what is next to be done.
The rashness of the persecutor hath overspread the rights of the persecuted so that punishment is awarded to him that has gained the victory, the inglorious triumphs, and the man who deserved bonds has carried off the prize.
He was expressing his certainty that my appeal would be granted, but I was carrying the burden of a sin from which I had to free myself. According to him, human justice was nothing and divine justice was everything. I pointed out it was the former that had condemned me.
What the mysterious is I do not know. I do not call it God because God has come to mean much that I do not believe in. I find myself incapable of thinking of a deity or of any unknown supreme power in anthropomorphic terms, and the fact that many people think so is continually a source of surprise to me. Any idea of a personal God seems very odd to me.
I would not enter on my list of friends_x000D_ _x000D_ (Though graced with polished manners and fine sense,_x000D_ _x000D_ Yet wanting sensibility) the man_x000D_ _x000D_ Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
What give all that is tragic, whatever its form, the characteristic of the sublime, is the first inkling of the knowledge that the world and life can give no satisfaction, and are not worth our investment in them. The tragic spirit consists in this. Accordingly it leads to resignation.
WAR, n. A by-product of the arts of peace. The most menacing political condition is a period of international amity.
This might explain why Obama gave billions to Wall Street crooks, and dragged the Iraq and Afghan wars on and on._x000D_ _x000D_ Happily for the busy lunatics who rule over us, we are permanently the United States of Amnesia. We learn nothing because we remember nothing... We have ceased to be a nation under law but instead a homeland where the withered Bill of Rights, like a dead trumpet vine, clings to our pseudo-Roman columns.
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