Quotes About Justice

enforce obedience thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the means; for the lives of men are too

Teach governments humanity. It is their sanguinary punishments which corrupt mankind.

Man did not enter into society to become worse than he was before, nor to have fewer rights than he had before, but to have those rights better secured. His natural rights are the foundation of all his civil rights.

The government of a free country, properly speaking, is not in the persons, but in the laws.

As politicians we ought not so much to ground our hopes on the reasonableness of the thing we ask, as on the reasonableness of the person whom we ask it: who would expect discretion from a fool, candor from a tyrant, or justice from a villain?

It is easy to see that when Republican virtues fail, slavery ensues.

I have always held it an opinion (making it also my practice) that it is better to obey a bad law, making use at the same time of every argument to shew its errors and procure its repeal, than forcibly to violate it; because the precedent of breaking a bad law might weaken the force, and lead to a discretionary violation, of those which are good.

False testimony is always good against itself.

Taking it then for granted that no person ought to be in a worse condition when born under what is called a state of civilization, than he would have been had he been born in a state of nature, and that civilization ought to have made, and ought still to make, provision for that purpose, it can only be done by subtracting from property a portion equal in value to the natural inheritance it has absorbed. -Agrarian Justice

Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different things. When

Daca datorez bani cuiva si nu ii pot plati, iar acela ameninta ca ma arunca in inchisoare, datoria mea poate fi luata asupra sa de altcineva si o poate plati in locul meu. Dar daca am savarsit o infractiune, se schimba toate circumstantele cazului: dreptatea morala nu-l poate socoti vinovata pe cel nevinovat chiar daca cel nevinovat s-ar oferi pe sine. A presupune ca o astfel de actiune este un lucru drept inseamna a distruge principiul existentei sale, care este insasi dreptatea.

The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth

I care not how affluent some may be, provided that none be miserable in consequence of it.

Hij die zijn eigen vrijheid veilig wil stellen, moet zelfs zijn vijand tegen onderdrukking beschermen, want als hij die plicht schendt, schept hij een precedent dat op hemzelf terug zal slaan.

Of more worth is one honeset man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.

we are never in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate prejudice. And

O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind!

Put us, say some, on the footing we were on in sixty-three: To which I answer, the

as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no other. But

Though in a plan of which justice and humanity are the foundation principles, interest ought not to be admitted into the calculation, yet it is always of advantage to the establishment of any plan to show that it is beneficial as a matter of interest. The success of any proposed plan submitted to public consideration must finally depend on the numbers interested in supporting it, united with the justice of its principles.

It is impossible to find any equivalent counterpoise for the right of suffrage, because it is alone worthy to be its own basis, and cannot thrive as a graft, or an appendage. -Agrarian Justice

The unique point of view from which the author can present the world to those freedoms whose concurrence he wishes to bring about is that of a world to be impregnated always with more freedom. It would be inconceivable that this unleashing of generosity provoked by the writer could be used to authorize an injustice, and that the reader could enjoy his freedom while reading a work which approves or accepts or simply abstains from condemning the subjection of man by man. In

The poorest he that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest he.

Comrades, there is no true social revolution without the liberation of women. May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence. I hear the roar of women's silence. I sense the rumble of their storm and feel the fury of their revolt.