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Topics/Government

Quotes about laws

126 quotes from 83 people

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As there can be no second class citizens before the law of America, so⁠—we believe⁠—there can be no second-class nations before the law of the world community.
Dwight D. Eisenhower1890–1969Address at the Philadelphia Convention Hall (1956)
- Justice
An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.
Gerald Ford1913–2006Remarks in the U.S. House of Representatives in an effort to impeach Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (15 April 1970); recorded in the Congressional Record, vol. 116, p. 11913 and.
- Politics
Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.
Benjamin Franklin1706–1790Poor Richard’s Almanack
That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer, is a maxim that has been long and generally approved; never, that I know of, controverted.
Benjamin Franklin1706–1790Letter to Benjamin Vaughan, on Blackstone’s Ratio (14 March 1785)
- Justice
A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.
Robert Frost1874–1963
An unjust law is itself a species of violence.
Mahatma Gandhi1869–1948Non-Violence in Peace & War (1962) Vol. 2, edited by Mahadev Haribhai Desai, p. 144
- Justice
Dissents speak to a future age.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg1933–2020Interview with Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio (2 May 2002)
Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg1933–2020Dissenting, Shelby County v. Holder (2013)
- Voting
All rights and laws are still transmitted
Like an eternal sickness of the race,⁠—
From generation unto generation fitted,
And shifted round from place to place.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1749–1832Faust (1808), Scene IV, spoken by MephistophelesIn context
If a law commands me to sin I will break it; if it calls me to suffer, I will let it take its course unresistingly.
Angelina Grimké1805–1879“Appeal to the Christian Women of the South” (1836)
- Morality
Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.
Alexander Hamilton1757–1804Elliot’s Debates, volume 2, p. 364. (28 July 1788)
Government implies the power of making laws. It is essential to the idea of a law, that it be attended with a sanction; or, in other words, a penalty or punishment for disobedience.
Alexander Hamilton1757–1804The Federalist Papers (1787–1788), No. 15
- Government
No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.
Alexander Hamilton1757–1804Federalist No. 78 (May 28, 1788)In context
The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body.
Alexander Hamilton1757–1804Federalist No. 78 (May 28, 1788)In context
- Justice
Nobody ever wins a lawsuit but the lawyers.
Robert A. Heinlein1907–1988The Door Into Summer (1957), Chapter 2