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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.

Random quote on Justice

Most quoted on justice:

Earlier today, Justice Okon Abang of the Fed High Court, Maitama, Abuja, gave a faulty court judgement that I did not win PDP primaries.

Stella Ngwu

There was a time I thought that writers have not done enough justice to the screen plays

Chiwetalu Agu

"I feel that the rule of law must be upheld. I simply will not accept any apology until justice is done." (October 2004)

Koila Nailatikau

Justice to all, appeasement of none.

Narendra Modi

We’re interested in the peace but we understand that peace, justice and development go hand in hand. And I think we sent that message very strongly.

Jim Yong Kim

We have had, alas, and still have, the doubtful habit of reverence. Above all, we respect things as they are. ("Justice to Feminism")

Cynthia Ozick Art & Ardor (1983)

You can probably tell from my writing that I’m obsessed with notions of justice and injustice—those things that are wrong that can never be made right.

Jamaica Kincaid Interview with The Paris Review (2022)

Where these occur, swift justice must be served to show each and all that crime and other acts of economic sabotage can only guarantee ruin to perpetrators

Philip Valerio Sibanda

with what violence benevolence is bought
what cost in gesture justice brings
what wrongs domestic rights involve
what stalks
this silence

Charles Olson The Kingfishers (1950)

I was done justice and I appreciated it. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)

Herman Kruyder

words at the conference alone cannot do justice to the profound experiences and stories shared during the conference, thus a need to take a step further.

Jeannette Bayisenge

“Justice is not for sale.”

Rudy Ruiz Valley of Shadows (2022)

It’s made me think whether we’re stealing from our clients under the guise of providing them with justice

Marry Mubaiwa

Social justice really matters to me, and I found in the teachings something that I had been striving for, the end purpose

Ketakandriana Rafitoson

I don't believe in fear of divine vengeance, and I do believe in justice and equality.... ~ Ch. 57

Sinclair Lewis The God-Seeker (1949)

Anyone who takes it on himself, on his own authority, to break a bad law, thereby authorizes everyone else to break the good ones.

Denis Diderot Attributed

I'm armed with more than complete steel,—
The justice of my quarrel.

Christopher Marlowe Misattributed Lust's Dominion (1600)

If England treats her criminals the way she has treated me, she doesn't deserve to have any.

Oscar Wilde Attributed

We don't seem able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business?

Will Rogers Attributed

The doctrine that the cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy is like saying that the cure of crime is more crime.

H. L. Mencken Attributed

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