Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian Dissident Novelist
Children will still die unjustly even in a perfect society. Even by his greatest effort, man can only propose to diminish, arithmetically, the sufferings of the world.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Novelist
A lawyer is a gentlemen that rescues your estate from your enemies and then keeps it to himself.
—Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868) Scottish Jurist, Politician
The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
The triumph of justice is the only peace.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–99) American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic
I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s rain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and ied in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) American Paleontologist, Science Writer
The law embodies the story of a nation’s development through many centuries, and it cannot be dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
He who goes no further than bare justice, stops at the beginning of virtue.
—Hugh Blair (1718–1800) Scottish Preacher, Scholar, Critic
At a time when opportunism is everything, when hope seems lost, when everything boils down to a cynical business deal, we must find the courage to dream. To reclaim romance. The romance of believing in justice, in freedom, and in dignity. For everybody.
—Arundhati Roy (b.1961) Indian Author, Actress, Activist
We don’t give our criminals much punishment, but we sure give ’em plenty of publicity.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
Justice shines in smoky cottages, and honors the pious. Leaving with averted eyes the gorgeous glare obtained by polluted hands, she is wont to draw nigh to holiness, not reverencing wealth when falsely stamped with praise, and assigning to each deed its righteous doom.
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Playwright
The more laws, the less justice.
—German Proverb
The essence of justice is mercy.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
Judge: a law student who marks his own papers.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
I am further of opinion that it would be better for us to have (no laws) at all than to have them in so prodigious numbers as we have.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Write that down, the King said to the jury, and the jury eagerly wrote down all three dates on their slates, and then added them up, and reduced the answer to shillings and pence.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (1832–98) British Author, Mathematician, Clergyman, Logician
A judge who cannot punish, in the end associates themselves with the criminal.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you and you have to battle with only one of them.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
At present we can only reason of the divine justice from what we know of justice in man. When we are in other scenes we may have truer and nobler ideas of it; but while in this life we can only speak from the volume that is laid open before us.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
When the laws are written and administered by the most powerful leaders in a society, it is human nature for them to understand, justify, and protect the interests of themselves and people like them. Many injustices arise from this natural human failing.
—Jimmy Carter (1924–2024) 39th US President, Humanitarian
When rich speculators prosper while farmers lose their land; when government officials spend money on weapons instead of cures; when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible while the poor have nowhere to turn-all this is robbery and chaos.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Judicial judgment must take deep account of the day before yesterday in order that yesterday may not paralyze today.
—Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) Austrian-Born American Jurist
In the same degree that we overrate ourselves, we shall underrate others; for injustice allowed at home is not likely to be correct abroad.
—Washington Allston (1779–1843) American Landscape Painter
An appeal… is when you ask one court to show its contempt for another court.
—Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936) American Humorist, Journalist, Creator of “Mr. Dooley”
You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Activist, Advocate
Many laws as certainly make bad men, as bad men make many laws.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
To do something, say something, see something, before anybody else—these are things that confer a pleasure compared with which other pleasures are tame and commonplace, other ecstasies cheap and trivial.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The weakest arm is strong enough, that strikes
With the sword of justice.
—John Webster (1580–1634) English Dramatist, Poet
Leave a Reply