Justice Quotes
By a wide margin the most quotes here are Shakespeare’s, and the two judges who follow him, Lord Mansfield and Lord Kenyon, are a sign that this page leans on the bench as much as the stage. Seneca and John Rawls fill out the top five.
Among the sourced entries, Bierce’s definition from 1911 describes justice as a commodity the State sells to citizens as a reward for their allegiance, taxes and personal service. Sartre’s Dirty Hands (1948) and Wilde’s Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) are here for what they say about guilt, not courts.
Three lines carry flags: Marlowe’s “the justice of my quarrel,” Augustine on charity and withheld justice, and a Martin Luther King Jr. line about peace and justice being goals for man.
It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.
Uncertain justice by a verdict is much better than certain injustice.
A nation that will not enforce its laws has no claim to the respect and allegiance of its people.
We are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
'Tis like the breath of an unfee'd lawyer; you gave me nothing for 't.
Law is the rule, principle, obligation or requirement of natural justice.
I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against an whole people.