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The law is not a "light" for you or any man to see by; the law is not an instrument of any kind. The law is a causeway upon which so long as he keeps to it a citizen may walk safely.

— Robert Bolt A Man for All Seasons (1967)

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Justice

More quotes by Robert Bolt

When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties … they lead their country by a short route to chaos.

A Man for All Seasons (1968)

Morality's not practical. Morality's a gesture. A complicated gesture learnt from books.

A Man for All Seasons (1960)

When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then — he needn't hope to find himself again.

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

I think you are another of these desert-loving English: Doughty, Stanhope, Gordon of Khartoum. No Arab loves the desert. We love water and green trees, there is nothing in the desert. No man needs nothing.

All Robert Bolt quotes →

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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.

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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.

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Attribution

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