I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), speech in Washington D.C., 1865
Courage is of no value unless accompanied by justice; yet if all men became just, there would be no need for courage.
Agesilaus the Second
The sword of justice has no scabbard.
Antione De Riveral
It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered.
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
Justice does not come from the outside. It comes from inner peace.
Barbara Hall, A Summons to New Orleans, 2000
In the state of nature, indeed, all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the laws.
Charles de Montesquieu (1689 - 1755), The Spirit of Laws, 1748
Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot1 to every man his due.
Domitus Ulpian (100 AD - 228 AD)
It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.
Earl Warren (1891 - 1974)
Justice is a contract of expediency2, entered upon to prevent men harming or being harmed.
Epicurus (341 BC - 270 BC)
Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)
Liberty, equality - bad principles! The only true principle for humanity is justice; and justice to the feeble is protection and kindness.
Henri-Frédéric Amiel
Under a government which imprisons3 unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), Civil Disobedience, 1849
If it were not for injustice5, men would not know justice.
Heraclitus (540 BC - 480 BC)
Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973), The Lord Of the Rings, Book Four, Chapter One
Gossip and reputation make sure that what comes around-a person who is cruel will find that the others are cruel hack6 to him, and a person who is kind will find others are kind in return. Gossip paired with reciprocity allow karma to work here on earth, not in the next life.
Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, 2005
The greatest justice in life is that your vision and looks tend to go simultaneously7.
Kevin Bacon, People, 06-13-2011
The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is a duty of the living to do so for them.
Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity8, 2002
Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.
Malcolm X (1925 - 1965), Malcolm X Speaks, 1965
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968), Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963
Justice requires that to lawfully9 constituted Authority there be given that respect and obedience4 which is its due; that the laws which are made shall be in wise conformity10 with the common good; and that, as a matter of conscience all men shall render obedience to these laws.
Pope Pius XI (1857 - 1939)
Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919), 1916 (quoted in the Theodore Roosevelt Centennial CD-ROM)
Justice delayed, is justice denied.
William Gladstone (1809 - 1898)
