Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotations on Laws

It usually takes a hundred years to make a law, and then, after it has done its work, it usually takes another hundred years to get rid of it.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist

Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap—let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;—let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.
Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State

The cornerstone of this Republic, as of all free government, is respect for and obedience to the law. Where we permit the law to be defied or evaded, whether by rich man or poor man, by black man or white, we are by just so much weakening the bonds of our civilization and increasing the chances of its overthrow, and of the substitution therefore of a system in which there shall be violent alternations of anarchy and tyranny.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer

It is a very easy thing to devise good laws; the difficulty is to make them effective. The great mistake is that of looking upon men as virtuous, or thinking that they can be made so by laws; and consequently the greatest art of a politician is to render vices serviceable to the cause of virtue.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751) English Politician, Philosopher

The Englishman walks before the law like a trained horse in a circus. He has the sense of legality in his bones, in his muscles.
Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) Russian Writer, Dramatist, Political Activist, Novelist

Laws and institutions are constantly tending to gravitate. Like clocks, they must be occasionally cleansed, and wound up, and set to true time.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer

Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist

The liberty of a people consists in being governed by laws which they have made themselves, under whatsoever form it be of government. The liberty of a private man, in being master of his own time and actions, as far as may consist with the laws of God and of his country.
Abraham Cowley (1618–67) English Poet, Essayist

A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady.
Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author

There is but one law for all; namely the law which governs all law — the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity, the law of nature and of nations.
Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman

Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law.
Jean Anouilh (1910–87) French Dramatist

The violation of some laws is a normal part of the behavior of every citizen.
Stuart Chase (1888–1985) American Economist, Engineer, Author

The execution of the laws is more important than the making of them.
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer

Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman

Our laws can be friendly to those who obey them, and too often useful to those who don’t.
Cullen Hightower (b.1923) American Humorist

An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.
Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shall mediate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith

Laws should be like clothes. They should be made to fit the people they are meant to serve.
Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer

That law may be set down as good which is certain in meaning, just in precept, convenient in execution, agreeable to the form of government, and productive of virtue in those that live under it.
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher

There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough law courts, to enforce a law not supported by the people.
Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician

Bad laws are the worst form of tyranny.
Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman

The more laws, the less justice.
German Proverb

No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man’s permission when we require him to obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.
Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author

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