The law is good, it is necessary, its execution is poor, and the manners judge the laws based on the manner in which they are executed.

La loi est bonne, elle est nécessaire, l'exécution en est mauvaise, et les mœurs jugent les lois d'après la manière dont elles s'exécutent.

Original text (French)

Another quote →

Notes from Wikiquote

Part III. Où mènent les mauvais Chemins (The Ends of Evil Ways), "Ce qu'est un Juge d'instruction pour ceux qui n'en ont pas" ("What a Judge Is for Those Who Do Not Have One") (chapter title).

Topics

More quotes by Honoré de Balzac

All Honoré de Balzac quotes →

You may also like

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Honoré de Balzac (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.