They are expressed in the most plain and simple terms, wherein those people are not mercurial enough to discover above one interpretation: and to write a comment upon any law, is a capital crime.

Despite the objections raised, however, the majority of historians remain convinced of the historical value of the Venona material. Intelligence historian Nigel West believes that "Venona remain an irrefutable resource, far more reliable than the mercurial recollections of KGB defectors and the dubious conclusions drawn by paranoid analysts mesmerized by Machiavellian plots."

In October 1996, however, NEPA insisted that the economic ascent was a mercurial upsurge.

Gupte described his character as mercurial, and found playing him a physical delight.

Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, Macedonia's western neighbour, was a general of mercurial ability, widely renowned for his bravery, but he did not apply his talents sensibly and often snatched after vain hopes, so that Antigonus used to compare him to a dice player, who had excellent throws, but did not know how to use them.