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Justice quotes

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“Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“My experience has shown me that we win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party.” Mahatma Gandhi, “The Story of my Experiments with Truth” - 1929

“Equality consists in the same treatment of similar persons, and no government can stand which is not founded upon justice.” Aristotle, “Politics”

“How good life is when one does something good and just!” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov” - 1880

“More law, less justice.” Marcus Tullius Cicero, “On Duties” - 44 BC

“There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man.” George R. R. Martin, “A Game of Thrones” - 1996

“Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” - 16 April 1963

“Let us see if there is justice upon the earth, or if we are ruled by chance.” Arthur Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet” - 1887

“The judge speaks in the name of justice; the priest speaks in the name of pity, which is nothing but a more lofty justice.” Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables” - 1862

“Then justice will be useful when money is useless.” Plato, “The Republic”

“I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” Malcolm X, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” - 1965

“Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.” Francis Bacon, “The Essays of Francis Bacon” - 1597

“And Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.” Heraclitus, “On Nature” - c. 535 – c. 475 BCE

“It is compassion rather than the principle of justice which can guard us against being unjust to our fellow men.” Bruce Lee, “Tao of Jeet Kune Do” - 1975

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring” - 1954

“A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.” George R. R. Martin, “A Game of Thrones” - 1996

“There will be more joy in heaven over the tear-bathed face of a repentant sinner than over the white robes of a hundred just men.” Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables” - 1862

“Justice without might is helpless; might without justice is tyrannical.” Blaise Pascal, “Pensées” - 1670

“to accuse, requires less eloquence (such is man's nature) than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution more resembles justice.” Thomas Hobbes, “Leviathan” - 1651

“Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.” William Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet” - 1597

“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” William Shakespeare, “Macbeth” - 1623

“Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of blame.” William Shakespeare, “Richard III” - 1597

“Thieves for their robbery have authority when judges steal themselves.” William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure” - 1623

“Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure; like doth quit like, and Measure still for Measure.” William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure” - 1623

“Hang all the husbands that cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself hardly one subject.” William Shakespeare, “The Winter's Tale” - 1623

“Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing.” Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” - 1849

“I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest...” Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” - 16 April 1963

“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit...” Martin Luther King, Jr., “I have a Dream” - 28 August 1963

“I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.” Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” - 16 April 1963

“The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice, and the desire for personal independence—these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my stars that I belong to it.” Albert Einstein, “The world as I see it” - 1949

“How this outbreak was induced is not definitely known, and suspicions, which may be unjust, need not to be stated.” Abraham Lincoln, “State of the Union Address” - 1 December 1862

“But you must remember that justice to a lovely being is after all a florid sort of sentiment.” Henry James, “The Portrait of a Lady” - 1881

“For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation.” Ulysses S. Grant, “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” - 1885

“We have had the morality of submission, and the morality of chivalry and generosity; the time is now come for the morality of justice.” John Stuart Mill, “The Subjection of Women” - 1869

“The passage from the state of nature to the civil state produces a very remarkable change in man, by substituting justice for instinct in his conduct, and giving his actions the morality they had formerly lacked.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract” - 1762

“LITIGATION, n. A machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage.” Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil's Dictionary” - 1911

“But the foundation of justice is good faith, that is, steadfastness and truth in promises and agreements.” Marcus Tullius Cicero, “On Duties” - 44 BC

“Retire into thyself. The rational principle which rules has this nature, that it is content with itself when it does what is just, and so secures tranquility.” Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” - c. 170 - 180

“Those who cherish their freedom and recognize and respect the equal right of their neighbors to be free and live in peace, must work together for the triumph of law and moral principles in order that peace, justice, and confidence may prevail...” Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Quarantine Speech” - 5 October 1937

“Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” Pope Francis, “Laudato si'” - 24 May 2015

“The value of all things contracted for, is measured by the Appetite of the Contractors: and therefore the just value, is that which they be contented to give.” Thomas Hobbes, “Leviathan” - 1651

“Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose...” Woodrow Wilson, “We Must Accept War” - 2 April 1917

“If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.” George R. R. Martin, “A Game of Thrones” - 1996

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when...” C. S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity” - 1952

“A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.” George R. R. Martin, “A Clash of Kings” - 1999

“I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” - 1999

“if I'm not fair to other people, I'm not worth being understood myself.” George MacDonald, “The Princess and the Goblin” - 1872

“Never pray for justice, because you might get some.” Margaret Atwood, “Cat's Eye” - 1988

Related topics

law truth peace morality government responsibility death revenge mercy killing freedom nature war judgement compassion love reciprocity strength life conscience

Related authors

William Shakespeare (6)
George R. R. Martin (4)
Henry David Thoreau (4)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (4)
Victor Hugo (3)
Marcus Tullius Cicero (2)
Thomas Hobbes (2)
J. K. Rowling (1)
Lewis Carroll (1)
Heraclitus (1)
C. S. Lewis (1)
Albert Einstein (1)
Abraham Lincoln (1)
Arthur Conan Doyle (1)
Mahatma Gandhi (1)
Plato (1)
Aristotle (1)
Malcolm X (1)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1)
Henry James (1)

Related sources

Civil Disobedience (4)
A Game of Thrones (3)
Letter from a Birmingham Jail (3)
Les Misérables (3)
Measure for Measure (2)
On Duties (2)
Leviathan (2)
Romeo and Juliet (1)
Macbeth (1)
Richard III (1)
The Winter's Tale (1)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1)
On Nature (1)
Mere Christianity (1)
I have a Dream (1)
The world as I see it (1)
State of the Union Address (1)
A Study in Scarlet (1)
The Story of my Experiments with Truth (1)
The Republic (1)