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.
Who to himself is law no law doth need,
Offends no law, and is a king indeed.
It seems to me that any law that is not enforced and can’t be enforced weakens all other laws.
The object of punishment is, prevention from evil; it never can be made impulsive to good.
Whatever arises from a just situation by just steps is itself just.
Justice is a machine that, when someone has once given it the starting push, rolls on of itself.
A Judge must bear in mind that when he tries a case he is himself on trial.
Hungry men have no respect for law, authority or human life.
At some time, here or hereafter, every account must be settled, and every debt paid in full.