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The only thing that can set aside a law as wrong is a better law, or an idea of a better law. And the only thing that an give a law the quality of better or worse is the concrete result which it promotes or fails to promote.

— William Ernest Hocking Present Status of the Philosophy of Law and of Rights (1926)

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More quotes by William Ernest Hocking

And indeed, no man has found his religion until he has found that for which he must sell his goods and his life.

The Meaning of God in Human Experience (1912)

Only the man who has enough good in him to feel the justice of the penalty can be punished; the others can only be hurt.

The Coming World Civilization (1956)

Without good-will, no man has any presumptive right, except the right or opportunity to change his will, so long as there is hope of it.

Present Status of the Philosophy of Law and of Rights (1926)

Principle I : Legal rights are presumptive rights.

Present Status of the Philosophy of Law and of Rights (1926)

For maturity is marked by the preference to be defeated rather than have a subjective success.

The Meaning of God in Human Experience (1912)

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