Whenever we feel sympathy would weaken us, we are a little closer to the torturer.
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.
Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire, and stew'd in brine,
Smarting in ling'ring pickle.
A testy babe will scratch the nurse,
And presently all humbled kiss the rod.
'Tis I that call, remember Milo's end,
Wedged in that timber which he strove to rend.
Third, and finally, the educated citizen has an obligation to uphold the law.
The Judges are totally independent of the ministers that may happen to be, and of the King himself.