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There is in each of us a stream of tendency, whether you choose to call it philosophy or not, which gives coherence and direction to thought and action. Judges cannot escape that current any more than other mortals.

— Benjamin N. Cardozo The Nature of the Judicial Process (1921)

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Justice

More quotes by Benjamin N. Cardozo

Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.

Metaphors in law are to be narrowly watched, for starting as devices to liberate thought, they end often by enslaving it.

Prophecy, however honest, is generally a poor substitute for experience.

Justice is not to be taken by storm. She is to be wooed by slow advances. Substitute statute for decision, and you shift the center of authority, but add no quota of inspired wisdom.

Lecture at Yale University Law School (1923)

Fraud includes the pretense of knowledge when knowledge there is none.

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