John Grisham book The Last Juror
John Grisham, The Last Juror: A Novel, p. 357 (Author's Note) (2004)
Source: [Grisham, John, 2004, The Last Juror, BCA, 357 (Author's Note), 0-385-51043-8]
Statement (1835), as quoted in Andrew Johnson, Plebeian and Patriot (1928) by Robert Watson Winston.
Quote
John Grisham book The Last Juror
John Grisham, The Last Juror: A Novel, p. 357 (Author's Note) (2004)
Source: [Grisham, John, 2004, The Last Juror, BCA, 357 (Author's Note), 0-385-51043-8]
“The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
Attributed in A Dictionary of Thoughts (1908) by Tryon Edwards; this is earlier attributed to Theodore Roosevelt in Life of William McKinley (1901) by Samuel Fallows, and could be derived from the remarks of Ulysses S. Grant in his First Inaugural Address (4 March 1869): "I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution".
Misattributed
Marguerite Yourcenar book Memoirs of Hadrian
Toute loi trop souvent transgressée est mauvaise: c'est au législateur à l'abroger ou à la changer.
Source: Memoirs of Hadrian (1951), p. 113
“No government has yet been able to repeal natural laws, though they keep trying.”
Robert A. Heinlein book Farnham's Freehold
Source: Farnham's Freehold (1964), Chapter 2 (p. 35)
Sir John Bayley, 1st Baronet (1763–1841) British judge
1 St. Tr. (N. S.) 484.
Trial of Hunt and others (King v. Hunt) (1820)
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) 18th President of the United States
1860s, First Inaugural Address (1869)
Context: Laws are to govern all alike — those opposed as well as those who favor them. I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.
“My business is that of every other good citizen - to uphold the law.”
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author
Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter
Existencilism (2002)
Source: Wall and Piece