Famously Said Random quote

Quotes about justice

171 quotes from 112 people

Most readBy personPage 10 of 12

Through tatter’d clothes great vices do appear;
Robes and furr’d gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks;
Arm it in rags, a pygmy’s straw does pierce it.
William Shakespeare1564–1616King Lear (c. 1606), Act IV, Scene VI, spoken by LearIn context
- Money
The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest,
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Merchant of Venice (c. 1597), Act IV, Scene I, spoken by PortiaIn context
- Forgiveness
Let opinion be taken away, and no man will think himself wronged. If no man shall think himself wronged, then is there no more any such thing as wrong.
Marcus Aurelius121–180Meditations (c. 170–180), The Fourth BookIn context
- Thinking
When there is an income-tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income
Plato429–349 BCThe Republic (c. 375 BC), Book IIn context
- Money
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 Thoreau1817–1862Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- Laws
Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- Government
No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe, and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed, and lodged.
Adam Smith1723–1790The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book I, Chapter VIIIIn context
- Economics
- Work
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826The Declaration of Independence (1776)In context
- Government
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)In context
- God
- Slavery
I am the law, and I am the judge! I am the oppressed, and there is the oppressor!
Jules Verne1828–1905Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), Part Two, Chapter XXIIn context
- Power
The truth, for time alone reveals the just;
A villain is detected in a day.
Sophocles496–406 BCOedipus the King (c. 429 BC), spoken by CreonIn context
- Time
- Truth & Lies
Nor did I deem that thou, a mortal man,
Could’st by a breath annul and override
The immutable unwritten laws of Heaven.
They were not born today nor yesterday;
They die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang.
Sophocles496–406 BCAntigone (c. 441 BC), spoken by AntigoneIn context
- Laws
- Morality
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
William Shakespeare1564–1616The Merchant of Venice (c. 1597), Act III, Scene I, spoken by ShylockIn context
- Race
Use every man after his desert, and who should ’scape whipping?
William Shakespeare1564–1616Hamlet (c. 1600), Act II, Scene II, spoken by HamletIn context
The real significance of crime is in its being a breach of faith with the community of mankind
Joseph Conrad1857–1924Lord Jim (1900), Chapter 14In context
- Laws