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Quotes about justice

171 quotes from 112 people

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I believe that to have interfered as I have done⁠—as I have always freely admitted I have done⁠—in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right.
John Brown1800–1859John Brown’s Last Speech (1859)
- Slavery
Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments,⁠—I submit; so let it be done!
John Brown1800–1859John Brown’s Last Speech (1859)
- Life & Death
- Slavery
Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Letter to M. de Menonville (October 1789)
- Liberty
The cold neutrality of an impartial judge.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Preface to Brissot’s Address (1794)
Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic to apply the ordinary ideas of criminal justice to this great public contest. I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Second Speech on Conciliation with America (1775)
A punishment that penalizes without forestalling is indeed called revenge.
Albert Camus1913–1960Reflections on the Guillotine (1957)
The slave begins by demanding justice and ends by wanting to wear a crown. He must dominate in his turn.
Albert Camus1913–1960The Rebel (1951)
- Power
When the imagination sleeps, words are emptied of their meaning: a deaf population absent-mindedly registers the condemnation of a man.
Albert Camus1913–1960Reflections on the Guillotine (1957)
There can be no social order without social justice.
Stokely Carmichael1941–1998Chapter Two, p. 53
“Sentence first⁠—verdict afterwards.”
Lewis Carroll1832–1898Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Chapter XIIIn context
All the greatest things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: Freedom; Justice; Honour; Duty; Mercy; Hope.
Winston Churchill1874–1965United Europe Meeting, Albert Hall, London (May 14, 1947). Cited in Churchill by Himself, ed. Langworth, PublicAffairs (2008), p. 26
- Freedom
- Honor
Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.
Arthur C. Clarke1917–2008“Maelstrom II” (1965)
- Nature
Every human institution (justice included) will stretch a little, if you only pull it the right way.
Wilkie Collins1824–1889The Moonstone (1868), First Period: The Loss of the Diamond (1848), Chapter XIIn context
- Laws
The fool’s crime is the crime that is found out, and the wise man’s crime is the crime that is NOT found out.
Wilkie Collins1824–1889The Woman in White (1860), Second Epoch, The Story Continued by Marian Halcombe, IIIIn context
- Wisdom