He that loves law will soon get his fill of it.
—Scottish Proverb
There is no country in the world in which everything can be provided for by the laws, or in which political institutions can prove a substitute for common sense and public morality.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
The more laws the less justice.
—Common Proverb
A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.
—Unknown
Somebody figured it out—we have 35 million laws trying to enforce Ten Commandments.
—Earl Wilson (1907–87) American Broadway Gossip Columnist
The laws of morals and the laws of music are the same.
—Zoltan Kodaly (1882–1967) Hungarian Composer
All that makes existence valuable to any one depends on the enforcement of restraints upon the actions of other people.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
Our demands are simple, normal, and therefore they are difficult to satisfy. All we ask is that an actor on the stage live in accordance with natural laws
—Constantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
A good lawyer is a bad neighbor.
—French Proverb
The law isn’t justice. It’s a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
Law is the embodiment of the moral sentiment of the people.
—William Blackstone (1723–80) English Judge, Jurist, Academic
A law overcharged with severity, like a blunderbuss overcharged with powder, will each of them grow rusty by disuse, and neither will be resorted to, from the shock and recoil that must inevitably follow their explosion.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
The reason of the law is the law.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
I say, break the law.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
They are the best laws, by which the king has the greatest prerogative, and the people the best liberty.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Every actual state is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I think we may class the lawyer in the natural history of monsters.
—John Keats (1795–1821) English Poet
Law, without force, is impotent.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
When I hear any man talk of an unalterable law, the only effect it produces on me is to convince me that he is an unalterable fool.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
All breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures should not be slain nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away. This is the pure unchangeable law.
—Buddhist Teaching
Written laws are like spiders’ webs; they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.
—Anacharsis (fl. 6th century BCE) Scythian Prince
Law is a flag and gold is the wind that makes it move.
—Russian Proverb
Laws are like sausages. It is better not to see them being made.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister
Who loves law, dies either mad or poor.
—Thomas Middleton (c.1580–1627) English Dramatist, Poet
God works wonders now and then: Behold! A lawyer and an honest man.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The law is only one of several imperfect and more or less external ways of defending what is better in life against what is worse. By itself, the law can never create anything better. Establishing respect for the law does not automatically ensure a better life for that, after all, is a job for people and not for laws and institutions.
—Vaclav Havel (1936–2011) Czech Dramatist, Statesman
Appeal: In law, to put the dice into the box for another throw.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
There is something servile in the habit of seeking after a law which we may obey. We may study the laws of matter at and for our convenience, but a successful life knows no law. It is an unfortunate discovery certainly, that of a law which binds us where we did not know before that we were bound. Live free, child of the mist—and with respect to knowledge we are all children of the mist. The man who takes the liberty to live is superior to all the laws, by virtue of his relation to the lawmaker. That is active duty, says the Vishnu Purana, which is not for our bondage; that is knowledge which is for our liberation: all other duty is good only unto weariness; all other knowledge is only the cleverness of an artist.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The trouble with law is lawyers.
—Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer
Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist