I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)

Comment (1864, Summer)
    (Source)

Recalled by his long-time friend, Joseph Gillespie, regarding pardons for some army deserters, in O. Oldroyd, The Lincoln Memorial: Album-Immortelles (1882).

Often attributed to a speech in Washington (1865), but I can find nothing in his collected works or in Presidential paper collections.