Locke John 1632-1704
Second Treatise of Civil Government
[That] ill deserves the name of confinement which hedges us in only from bogs and precipices. So that, however it may be mistaken, the end of law is, not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.
Locke John 1632-1704
Second Treatise of Civil Government
This power to act according to discretion for the public good, without the prescription of the law, and somethimes even against, it is that which is called prerogative.
Mauldin Bill 1921-
(cartoon caption)
I feel like a fugitive from th' law of averages.
Mayhew Jonathan 1720-1766
A Discourse ... to the Higher Powers
As soon as the prince sets himself up above the law, he loses the king in the tyrant; he does to all intents and purpose unking himself ... And in such cases, has no more right to be obeyed, than any inferior officer who acts beyond his commission.
Milton John 1608-1674
Paradise Lost
God is thy law, thou mine: to know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise.
With thee conversing I forget all time.
Milton John 1608-1674
Paradise Lost
Law to our selves, our reason is our law.
Mortimer John 1923-
Clinging to the Wreckage
The law seems like a sort of maze through which a client must be led to safety, a collection of reefs, rocks, and underwater hazards through which he or she must be piloted.
Mortimer John 1923-
A Voyage Round My Father
No brilliance is needed in the law. Nothing but common sense, and relatively clean finger nails.
Newton Sir Isaac 1642-1727
Letter to Edmond Halley
Philosophy is such an impertinently litigious lady that a man has as good be engaged in law suits as have to do with her.
Phillips Wendell 1811-1884
Law is nothing unless close behind it stands a warm, living public opinion.
Pound Roscoe 1870-1964
The law must be stable and yet is must not stand still.
Powell Sir John 1645-1713
Lord Raymond's Reports
Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law that is not reason.
Publilius Syrus 1st century BC
Sententiae
Necessity gives the law without itself acknowledging one.
Robespierre Maximilien 1758-1794
Déclaration des droits de l'homme
And law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.
Roosevelt Theodore 1858-1919
No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it.
Russell Bertrand 1872-1970
Mysticism and Logic
The law of causality, I believe, ... is a relic of a bygone age, surviving, like the monarchy, only because it is erroneously supposed to do no harm.
Scargill Arthur 1938-
(evidence to House of Commons Select Committee)
Parliament itself would not exist in its present form had people not defied the law.
Selden John 1584-1654
Table Talk ‘Law'
Ignorance of the law excuses no man; not that all men know the law, but because ‘tis an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to confute him.
Service Robert 1874-1958
‘The Law of the Yukon'
This is the law of the Yukon, that only the Strong
shall thrive;
That surely the Weak shall perish, and only the
Fit survive.
Shakespeare William 1564-161
Measure for Measure
We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape, till custom make it
Their perch and not their terror.
Shakespeare William 1564-161
Twelfth Night
Still you keep o' the windy side of the law.
Tennyson Alfred Lord 1809-1892
In Memoriam A.H.H.
Fresh from brawling courts
And dusty purlieus of the law.
Tennyson Alfred Lord 1809-1892
In Memoriam A.H.H.
One God, one law, one element,
And one far-off divine event,
To which the whole creation moves.
TRIBE Laurence H.
An excess of law inescapably weakens the rule of law.