Justice is that virtue of the soul which is distributive according to desert.
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.
That which is unjust can really profit no one; that which is just can really harm no one.
It is not the enactment, but the observance of laws, that creates the character of a nation.
The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself.
There is no positive law: Many things are bad by that, which otherwise were not.
A mere evasion, colour, disguise and device to evade the law.
Your lordships must look hardships in the face rather than break down the rules of law.
It cannot be helped, it is as it should be, that the law is behind the times.
It is folly to punish your neighbour by fire when you live next door.