“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.”
Aristotle
Human NatureRule Of Law
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.
“Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.”
Aristotle
Legal ReformChange
“Mankind must have laws and conform to them, or their life would be as bad as that of the most savage beast.”
Plato
OrderSociety
“Four things belong to a judge: to hear courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly, and to decide impartially.”
Socrates
JudgesFairness
“Extreme justice is extreme injustice.”
Cicero
BalanceMercy
“He who decides a case without hearing the other side, though he decide justly, cannot be considered just.”
Seneca
Fair HearingJustice
“Jurisprudence is the knowledge of things divine and human, the science of the just and the unjust.”
Justinian (Digest)
JurisprudenceRoman Law
“Law is nothing else than an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community, and promulgated.”
Thomas Aquinas
Common GoodDefinition
“Necessity knows no law.”
Latin Legal Maxim
NecessityLegal Maxims
“Equity follows the law.”
Legal Maxim
EquityLegal Maxims
“The law does not concern itself with trifles.”
Latin Legal Maxim (De minimis non curat lex)
Legal MaximsPerspective
“Where there is a right, there is a remedy.”
Latin Legal Maxim (Ubi jus ibi remedium)
RightsRemedies
“Let the buyer beware.”
Latin Legal Maxim (Caveat emptor)
Consumer LawCaution
“Silence gives consent.”
Latin Legal Maxim
ConsentShort Quotes
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law.”
Legal Proverb
PropertyProverbs
“Laws remain in force not because they are just, but because they are laws.”
Michel de Montaigne
AuthorityPhilosophy
“Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.”
Blaise Pascal
PowerJustice
“Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and more advised than confident.”
Francis Bacon
JudgesWisdom
“Magna Carta is such a fellow, that he will have no sovereign.”
Edward Coke
Magna CartaRule Of Law
“The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, the pangs of despised love, the law's delay.”
William Shakespeare
DelayLiterature
“There is no power in Venice can alter a decree established.”
William Shakespeare
PrecedentLiterature
“Tarry a little; there is something else. This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood.”
William Shakespeare
ContractsLiterature
“The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public.”
Samuel Johnson
WisdomPublic Good
“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
Immanuel Kant
EthicsPhilosophy
“There is but one law for all, namely that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity, the law of nature and of nations.”
Edmund Burke
Natural LawHumanity