quotations about justice
Oh, I am arm'd with more than complete steel,
The justice of my quarrel.
APHRA BEHN
The Moor's Revenge
Absolute justice is achieved by the suppression of all contradictions; therefore it destroys freedom.
ALBERT CAMUS
The Rebel
Justice is that which is practiced by God himself, and to be practiced in its perfection by none but him. Omniscience and omnipotence are requisite for the full exertion of it.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Jul. 4, 1713
Justice commands us to have mercy upon all men, to consult the interests of the whole human race, to give to every one his due.
CICERO
On the Republic
All creatures come into the world bringing with them the memory of justice.
J. M. COETZEE
Waiting for the Barbarians
The course of justice often prevents it.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
To have the power of forgetting, for the time, self, friends, interests, relationship; and to think of doing right toward another, a stranger, an enemy, perhaps, is to have that which men can share only with the angels, and with Him who is above men and angels.
DAVID DUDLEY FIELD
speech, Mar. 18, 1876
The place of justice is an hallowed place; and therefore not only the bench, but the foot-place; and precincts and purprise thereof, ought to be preserved without scandal and corruption. For certainly grapes (as the Scripture saith) will not be gathered of thorns or thistles; neither can justice yield her fruit with sweetness, amongst the briars and brambles of catching and polling clerks, and ministers. The attendance of courts, is subject to four bad instruments. First, certain persons that are sowers of suits; which make the court swell, and the country pine. The second sort is of those, that engage courts in quarrels of jurisdiction, and are not truly amici curiae, but parasiti curiae, in puffing a court up beyond her bounds, for their own scraps and advantage. The third sort, is of those that may be accounted the left hands of courts; persons that are full of nimble and sinister tricks and shifts, whereby they pervert the plain and direct courses of courts, and bring justice into oblique lines and labyrinths. And the fourth, is the poller and exacter of fees; which justifies the common resemblance of the courts of justice, to the bush whereunto, while the sheep flies for defence in weather, he is sure to lose part of his fleece. On the other side, an ancient clerk, skilful in precedents, wary in proceeding, and understanding in the business of the court, is an excellent finger of a court; and doth many times point the way to the judge himself.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Judicature", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
The greatest trespasser on justice still wishes it done to him.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
There is no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Guardian, Jul. 4, 1713
Is justice therefore various or mutable? No, but the times, over which it presides, flow not evenly, because they are times.
ST. AUGUSTINE
Confessions
For Justice, though she's painted blind,
Is to the weaker side inclin'd.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Hudibras
It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.
WILLIAM BLACKSTONE
Commentaries on the Laws of England
Justice consists in an exact and scrupulous regard to the rights of others, with a deliberate purpose to preserve them upon all occasions secret and inviolate.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine
To delay justice is injustice.
WILLIAM PENN
Some Fruits of Solitude
Most people say they want justice, but they don't really want justice. They want revenge. They want to see the pain spread around equally.
DAVID GERROLD
Under the Eye of God
It’s every man’s business to see justice done.
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Justice and the facade of a temple are seen best from the outside.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
The most reasonable man always manages, when he pulls the trigger, to become a dispenser of justice.
JEAN GENET
The Balcony
If we do not maintain Justice, Justice will not maintain us.
FRANCIS BACON
speech in Overbury murder case, Nov. 1615