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.
Science is the study of those judgements concerning which universal agreement can be obtained.
Laws produce lawbreakers, Bernie, like hens produce eggs. Civilization has nothing to do with it.
One sole God;
One sole ruler, — his Law;
One sole interpreter of that law — Humanity.
Social justice without [civil or natural] rights is [maliciously] ideological and false.
Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Power and wealth must be in the hands of all, this occurrence needs capable and just managers.
The universe did not invent justice. Man did. Unfortunately, man must reside in the universe.
True revolutionary doctrine teaches that the only law is rationalism and dynamic optimism.
"Laws are for nothing if there is no mechanism to implement them."