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William Shakespeare on Justice

1564–1616 England

← All quotes by William Shakespeare

69 quotes

This shows you are above
Your justicers; that these our nether crimes
So speedily can venge!

King Lear (1608)

The bloody book of law
You shall yourself read in the bitter letter
After your own sense.

Othello (1603)

I charge you by the law,
Whereof you are a well deserving pillar,
Proceed to judgment.

Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire, and stew'd in brine,
Smarting in ling'ring pickle.

Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream.

Julius Cæsar (1599)

For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ.

A testy babe will scratch the nurse,
And presently all humbled kiss the rod.

Do as adversaries do in law,
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

Foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.

Thieves for their robbery have authority
When judges steal themselves.

Measure for Measure (1603)

When law can do no right,
Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong.

King John (1598)

I stand for judgment: answer: shall I have it?

Press not a falling man too far! 'tis virtue:
His faults lie open to the laws; let them,
Not you, correct him.

Henry VIII (1613)

But, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is with the rusty curb of old father antic the law?

This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips.

Macbeth (1605)

Beyond the infinite and boundless reach
Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death,
Art thou damn'd, Hubert.

King John (1598)

Tremble, thou wretch,
That has within thee undivulged crimes,
Unwhipp'd of justice.

King Lear (1608)

Before I be convict by course of law,
To threaten me with death is most unlawful.

Richard III (1591)

They have been grand-jurymen since before Noah was a sailor.

You who wear out a good wholesome forenoon in hearing a cause between an orange-wife and a fosset-seller; and then rejourn the controversy of three pence to a second day of audience.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Shakespeare (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.