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If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.

— Learned Hand

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More quotes by Learned Hand

A wise man once said, "Convention is like the shell to the chick, a protection till he is strong enough to break it through."

Life is not a thing of knowing only — nay, mere knowledge has properly no place at all save as it becomes the handmaiden of feeling and emotion.

Class-Day Oration (1893)

What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty?

Right knows no boundaries and justice no frontiers; the brotherhood of man is not a domestic institution.

Life is made up of constant calls to action, and we seldom have time for more than hastily contrived answers.

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

If the church ... does not make God's liberation of the oppressed central in its mission and proclamation, how can it rest easy with a condemned criminal as the dominant symbol of its message?

James H. Cone Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986)

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Muhammad

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

Attribution

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