“Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.”
Benjamin Franklin
BalanceLawmaking
Legal Quotes
200 FAMOUS QUOTES · LEGAL
Legal Quotes
Read the best legal quotes on law, justice, judges and lawyers from Cicero, Aristotle, Blackstone-era maxims, Shakespeare, Gandhi, Ambedkar, the Thirukkural and more.
“A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.”
Benjamin Franklin
LawyersFunny
“The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself.”
Charles Dickens
LawyersSatire
“Justice is the great interest of man on earth.”
Daniel Webster
JusticeHumanity
“Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.”
Alexis de Tocqueville
CourtsPolitics
“It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.”
Henry David Thoreau
ConscienceCivil Disobedience
“Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.”
Louis Brandeis
TransparencyAccountability
“To succeed in the other trades, capacity must be shown; in the law, concealment of it will do.”
Mark Twain
LawyersFunny
“Litigation, n. A machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage.”
Ambrose Bierce
LawsuitsFunny
“There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.”
Mahatma Gandhi
ConscienceHigher Law
“Law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.”
B. R. Ambedkar
Law And OrderSociety
“Dharma, when violated, destroys; dharma, when protected, protects.”
Manusmriti
RighteousnessIndia
“Equity is good when it is impartial towards enemies, strangers and friends alike.”
Thiruvalluvar
FairnessEquality
“Like a balance that stands level and weighs truly, impartiality is the ornament of the wise.”
Thiruvalluvar
ImpartialityWisdom
“In hearing litigations, I am like any other body. What is necessary, however, is to cause the people to have no litigations.”
Confucius
PeaceDisputes
“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.”
The Bible (Exodus 23:2)
CourageEthics
“Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.”
The Bible (Leviticus 19:15)
EqualityJudges
“He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.”
The Bible (Proverbs 17:15)
JusticeWarning
“He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.”
The Bible (Proverbs 18:17)
EvidenceBoth Sides
“Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him.”
The Bible (Matthew 5:25)
SettlementPeace
“Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne.”
The Bible (Luke 11:46)
LawyersBurdens
“Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
The Bible (Romans 13:10)
LoveLaw
“Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother.”
The Bible (Zechariah 7:9)
MercyJustice
“It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.”
The Bible (Proverbs 21:15)
JusticeJoy
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
The Bible (James 2:10)
LawResponsibility