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.
One does not like to differ from a man without knowing the reasons which influenced him.
Judges could by their resolution alter the practice, but never the law.
Never think that war, no matter how necessary, no matter how justified, is not a crime.
In a just world, there would be no possibility of 'charity'.
Our magistrates discharge their duties best at the beginning; and fall off toward the end.
Fortune is less severe against those of lesser degree, and God strikes what is weak with less power.