QUOTES AND PROVERBS ABOUT THE LAW, LAWYERS, COURTS,

JUDGES AND THE EVER ELUSIVE JUSTICE

The law, in all its majestic equality, forbids all men to sleep under bridges, to beg in the
streets, and to steal bread the rich as well as the poor.
Anatole France

Where-ever law ends, tyranny begins

John Locke

If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
Louis B Brandeis

Nothing is more destructive of respect for government and the law of the land than
passing laws which cannot be enforced.
Albert Einstein

It may be true that law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching
me, I think thats pretty important.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Law should be like clothes. They should be made to fit the people they are meant to
serve.
Clarence Darrow

The more laws, the more offenders.

English proverb

Verbod terg die lus.

Afrikaans proverb, roughly translated as Prohibition invites interest

Laws too gentle are seldom observed; too severe, seldom executed.
Benjamin Franklin

The best law leaves the least discretion to the judge.

Latin proverb.

Men would be great criminals did they need as many laws as they make
Lord C J Darling

Laws are like spider webs; the hold the weak and delicate who are caught in their
meshes, but are torn apart by the rich and powerful.
Anacharsis

Lawyers are operators of the toll bridge across which anyone in search of justice
must pass.
Jane Bryant Quinn

The trail lawyer does what Socrates was executed for: making the worse argument
appear the stronger.
Irvin R Kaufman

Ive never met a litigator who didnt think he was winning right up until the moment
the guillotine dropped.
William F Baxter

My daddy is a movie actor sometimes he plays the good guy, and sometimes he
plays the lawyer.
Malcolm Ford, son of Harrison Ford

No splints yet invented will heal a lawyers broken reputation.

Paul ONeil

The best description of an utter waste would be a busload of lawyers to go over a

cliff with three empty seats.
Laram Hunt

Lawyer: the only men in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.
Russian proverb.

Only painters and lawyers can change black to white.

Japanese proverb.

Doctors purge the body, preachers the conscience, lawyers the purse.
German proverb

No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any mans permission
when we ask him to obey it.
Theodore Roosevelt

When the President does it, that means it is not illegal.

Richard Nixon

The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.

Henry Kissinger

A mans respect for law and order exists in precise relationship to the size of his pay
cheque.
Adam Clayton

Get out of the way of Justice. She is blind!

Stanislaw Lec

Though justice moves slowly, it seldom fails to overtake the wicket.

Horace

The wheels of justice theyre square wheels.

Barbara Corcoran

If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment Thou shalt not
ration justice.
Learned Hand

The primary duty of a lawyer engaged in public prosecution is not to convict, but to
see that justice is done.
US Canons of Professional Ethics

Justice is incidental to law and order.

J Edgar Hoover

If you want justice go to a whorehouse, if you want to get f@#&$, go to the courts.
German proverb.

A right is not what someone gives you; its what no one can take from you.
Ramsey Clark

Justice delayed is democracy denied.

Robert F Kennedy

Rather suffer an injustice than commit one.

Yiddish proverb

One hour of justice is worth a hundred of prayer.

Arab proverb

Justice? You get justice in the next world. In this world, you have the law.
William Gaddis

The love of justice is simply, in the majority of men, the fear of suffering injustice.
Francois de la Rochefoucauld

Collection from Lawyers Wit and Wisdom and other sources.

Buys Inc. Attorneys
IT, Internet and Media Law
www.buys.co.za