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.
Certain other societies may respect the rule of force — we respect the rule of law.
And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw.
On you, my lord, with anxious fear I wait,
And from your judgment must expect my fate.
Tis with our judgments as our watches, none
Go just alike, yet each believes his own.
Since twelve honest men have decided the cause,
And were judges of fact, tho' not judges of laws.
How would you be,
If He, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are?
Where blind and naked Ignorance
Delivers brawling judgments, unashamed,
On all things all day long.
This bond is forfeit;
And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
A pound of flesh.
Bold of your worthiness, we single you
As our best-moving fair solicitor.