Quotes about laws
page 11

“What we have been living for three decades is frontier capitalism, with the frontier constantly shifting location from crisis to crisis, moving on as soon as the law catches up.”

Naomi Klein (1970) Canadian author and activist

Source: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

“Peace is not merely the absence of war but the presence of justice, of law, of order —in short, of government.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Source: On Peace

War, Peace, Justice

“We don't need a law against McDonald's or a law against slaughterhouse abuse--we ask for too much salvation by legislation. All we need to do is empower individuals with the right philosophy and the right information to opt out en masse.”

Joel Salatin (1957) American environmentalist

“I'm sitting at the dinner table, wearing my future mother-in-law's underwear. It's like some twisted dream that you wake up and thinkL Crikey Moses! Thank God that didn't really happen!”

Sophie Kinsella book I've Got Your Number

Source: I've Got Your Number

God, Dreams, Future

“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Penalty, Communication, Reality

“It isn't the desire to abide by the law that makes everyone behave as society requires, but the fear of punishment. Each one of us carries a gallows inside us.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym

Fear

“War." Gorgon spits the word. "That is what they call it to give the illusion of honor and law. It is chaos. Madness and blood and the hunger to win. It has always been thus and shall always be so.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

Hunger, War, Madness

“I am not the law, but I represent justice so far as my feeble powers go.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author

Justice

“But the law of loving others could not be discovered by reason, because it is unreasonable.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Pt. VIII, ch. 13
Source: Anna Karenina (1875–1877; 1878)
Context: Reason has discovered the struggle for existence and the law that I must throttle all those who hinder the satisfaction of my desires. That is the deduction reason makes. But the law of loving others could not be discovered by reason, because it is unreasonable.

Love

“The heart has its own laws… and the truth is… the truth is that you are the law of mine.”

Guy Gavriel Kay book Tigana

Source: Tigana

Truth, Heart

“No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong is what is against it.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Nature

“Everything has its drawbacks, as the man said when his mother-in-law died, and they came down upon him for the funeral expenses.”

Jerome K. Jerome book Three Men in a Boat

Source: Three Men in a Boat

“Doth perfect beauty stand in need of praise at all? Nay; no more than law, no more than truth, no more than loving kindness, nor than modesty.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

IV, 20
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book IV

Love, Truth, Beauty, Perfection

“Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.”

Howard Zinn (1922–2010) author and historian

Democracy, Departure

“I was reminded of the Four Immutable Laws of the Spirit: Whoever is present are the right people. Whenever it begins is the right time. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. And when it's over, it's over.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist

Source: Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son

People, Time

“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.”

Immanuel Kant book Critique of Practical Reason

Variant: Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
Source: Critique of Practical Reason (1788)
Context: Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above and the moral law within. I have not to search for them and conjecture them as though they were veiled in darkness or were in the transcendent region beyond my horizon; I see them before me and connect them directly with the consciousness of my existence. The former begins from the place I occupy in the external world of sense, and enlarges my connection therein to an unbounded extent with worlds upon worlds and systems of systems, and moreover into limitless times of their periodic motion, its beginning and continuance. The second begins from my invisible self, my personality, and exhibits me in a world which has true infinity, but which is traceable only by the understanding, and with which I discern that I am not in a merely contingent but in a universal and necessary connection, as I am also thereby with all those visible worlds. The former view of a countless multitude of worlds annihilates as it were my importance as an animal creature, which after it has been for a short time provided with vital power, one knows not how, must again give back the matter of which it was formed to the planet it inhabits (a mere speck in the universe). The second, on the contrary, infinitely elevates my worth as an intelligence by my personality, in which the moral law reveals to me a life independent of animality and even of the whole sensible world, at least so far as may be inferred from the destination assigned to my existence by this law, a destination not restricted to conditions and limits of this life, but reaching into the infinite.

Translated by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott

“The Law is annoying, but it is also flexible.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Variant: The Law is hard, but it is the Law.
Source: Lady Midnight

“The very first law in advertising is to avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague.”

Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist

Originally from Stuart Chase
Misattributed

“When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest the right of the majority to command, but I simply appeal from the sovereignty of the people to the sovereignty of mankind.”

Alexis De Tocqueville book Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America

People

“Don't go there Rule" Lawe warned him softly. " I don't think your horoscope declared today to be a good day to die.”

Lora Leigh (1965) American writer

Source: Lawe's Justice

Thinking

“A prude is a person who thinks that his own rules of propriety are natural laws.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

Nature, Thinking, Personality

“When the sins of our fathers visit us
We do not have to play host.
We can banish them with forgiveness
As God, in his His Largeness and Laws.”

August Wilson Fences

Source: Fences

God, Forgiveness

“Just as there are Laws of Conservation of Matter and Energy, so there are in fact Laws of Conservation of Pain and Joy. Neither can ever be created or destroyed.
But one can be converted into the other.”

Spider Robinson book Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

Source: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (1977) "Laws of Conservation of Pain and Joy"

Pain, Joy

“Odd, isn't it? He really was the right man for her in a sort of way; but then as you know, it is a law of love that the so-called 'right' person always comes to soon or too late.”

Lawrence Durrell book Balthazar

Source: Balthazar

Love, Way, Personality

“Caesar broke the law when he crossed the Rubicon," Frank said. "Great leaders have to think out side the box sometimes.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Thinking, Box

“Pray, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

The Devil's Dictionary (1911)
Source: The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

Universe

“I could end the deficit in five minutes. You just pass a law that says that any time there's a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

Interview on CNBC http://www.cnbc.com/id/43670783 (1 July 2011)

Time

“A nation which thinks that it is belief in God and not good law which makes people honest does not seem to me very advanced.”

Denis Diderot (1713–1784) French Enlightenment philosopher and encyclopædist

God, People, Thinking

“… It is the Law that while Evil, unopposed, may accomplish terrible deeds, the power of Good can never be overthrown when opposed to Evil…”

L. Frank Baum book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

Source: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

Evil

“Let's make a law that gay people can have birthdays, but straight people get more cake — you know, to send the right message to kids.”

Bill Maher book New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer

"Valentine's Day, that great state holiday" in The Boston Globe (14 February 2004) http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/02/14/valentines_day_that_great_state_holiday Source: New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer

People, Birthday

“Equal laws protecting equal rights…the best guarantee of loyalty and love of country.”

James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)

Letter to Jacob De La Motta (August 1820), Manuscript Division, Papers of James Madison http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/loc/madison.html 1820s Context: Equal laws protecting equal rights, are found as they ought to be presumed, the best guarantee of loyalty, and love of country; as well as best calculated to cherish that mutual respect and good will among citizens of every religious denomination which are necessary to social harmony and most favorable to the advancement of truth. Context: Among the features peculiar to the political system of the United States is the perfect equality of rights which it secures to every religious sect. And it is particularly pleasing to observe in the good citizenship of such as have been most distrusted and oppressed elsewhere, a happy illustration of the safety and success of this experiment of a just and benignant policy. Equal laws protecting equal rights, are found as they ought to be presumed, the best guarantee of loyalty, and love of country; as well as best calculated to cherish that mutual respect and good will among citizens of every religious denomination which are necessary to social harmony and most favorable to the advancement of truth.

Love, Loyalty, Country

“Prisons are built with stones of law; brothels with bricks of religion.”

William Blake book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 21

Religion

“Lawyer – One skilled in the circumvention of the law.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

“Painting something that defies the law of the land is good. Painting something that defies the law of the land and defies the law of gravity at the same time is really good.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Existencilism (2002)
Source: Wall and Piece

Time, Painting

“Please be peaceful. We believe in law and order. We are not advocating violence, I want you to love your enemies… for what we are doing is right, what we are doing is just -- and God is with us.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Love, God, Peace

“I thought grandmothers had to like you. It’s a law or something.”

Mary E. Pearson book The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Source: The Adoration of Jenna Fox

“The laws of the universe dictate that for every positive action, there is an unequal and sucky reaction.”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

Universe

“Remember that it is not the lawyer who knows the most law, but the one who best prepares his case, who wins.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Source: Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

“Do you ever read any of the books you burn?"
He laughed. "That's against the law!"
"Oh. Of course.”

Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451

Source: Fahrenheit 451

Books, Reading

“It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics and chemistry.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

Mathematics

“Throughout history, every period of enlightenment has been accompanied by darkness, pushing in opposition. Such are laws of nature and balance.”

Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol

Source: The Lost Symbol

History, Nature

“Anyway, that's how it is! Either they obey the law, or they're expelled!! And make sure they wear their veils correctly…" - "If hair is as stimulating as you say, then you need to shave your moustache!" My father actually said that.”

Marjane Satrapi (1969) Artist

Source: The Complete Persepolis

“Mr. Sourpuss Pants God I love her Nicholas " Thomas crowed. When he noticed that neither Nicholas nor Inez looked impressed by the words he added quickly "In a totally sister-in-law type fashion of course.”

Lynsay Sands Canadian writer

Source: The Renegade Hunter

Love, God, Fashion, Sister

“I abandon myself to the fever of dreams, in search for new laws.”

Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) French-Occitanian poet, playwright, actor and theatre director

Dreams, Search

“Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in some direction. It is an indication that the individual is out of harmony with himself, with the Law of his being.”

James Allen book As a Man Thinketh

Source: As a Man Thinketh

Suffering

“An outlaw can be defined as somebody who lives outside the law, beyond the law and not necessarily against it.”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

“Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French. One of the things which Gertrude Butterwick had impressed on Monty Bodkin when he left for his holiday on the Riviera was that he must be sure to practise his French, and Gertrude’s word was law. So now, though he knew that it was going to make his nose tickle, he said:
‘Er, garçon.’
‘M’sieur?’
‘Er, garçon, esker-vous avez un spot de l’encre et une piece de papier—note papier, vous savez—et une envelope et une plume.’
The strain was too great. Monty relapsed into his native tongue.
‘I want to write a letter,’ he said. And having, like all lovers, rather a tendency to share his romance with the world, he would probably have added ‘to the sweetest girl on earth’, had not the waiter already bounded off like a retriever, to return a few moments later with the fixings.
‘V’la, sir! Zere you are, sir,’ said the waiter. He was engaged to a girl in Paris who had told him that when on the Riviera he must be sure to practise his English. ‘Eenk—pin—pipper—enveloppe—and a liddle bit of bloddin-pipper.’
‘Oh, merci,’ said Monty, well pleased at this efficiency. ‘Thanks. Right-ho.’
‘Right-ho, m’sieur,’ said the waiter.”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Luck of the Bodkins

Source: The Luck of the Bodkins (1935)

World, Girl, Lovers, Holiday

“A mother-in-law dies only when another devil is needed in hell.”

Francois Rabelais (1494–1553) major French Renaissance writer

Hell

“Fear is the State's psychological weapon of choice to frighten citizens into sacrificing their basic freedoms and rule-of-law protections in exchange for the security promised by their all-powerful government.”

Philip G. Zimbardo book The Lucifer Effect

Source: The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Fear, Freedom

“I applaud the courage of he who accepts each and every one of the laws of a game he did not invent and was not asked if he wanted to play”

Juan Carlos Onetti (1909–1994) Uruguayan novelist

Source: A Brief Life

Game, Courage

“That's what law is: educated guesses at right and wrong.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

Education

“Magnus did not have enormous respect for the Law, but if he was breaking it he wanted to look good doing it.”

Cassandra Clare The Bane Chronicles

Source: The Bane Chronicles

“Sometimes it’s better to bend the law a little in special cases.”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Source: To Kill a Mockingbird

“I believe in a relatively equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth and poverty. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law. That makes me a liberal, and I’m proud of it.”

Paul Krugman book The Conscience of a Liberal

Source: The Conscience of a Liberal (2007), Ch. 13. The Conscience of a Liberal http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=5887. W. W. Norton & Company. 352 pages ISBN 978-0-393-06069-0, 1st edition (2007)

Democracy, Support, Wealth

“No great idea in its beginning can ever be within the law. How can it be within the law? The law is stationary. The law is fixed. The law is a chariot wheel which binds us all regardless of conditions or place or time.”

Emma Goldman book Anarchism and Other Essays

Source: Anarchism and Other Essays

Idea, Time

“I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author

Source: The Complete Sherlock Holmes

Revenge, Thinking

“I can't get over this. Dad isn't Sam's dad? Dad is a friend? How was I supposed to know that? People shouldn't be allowed to sign themselves as Dad unless they are your dad. It should be the law.”

Sophie Kinsella book I've Got Your Number

Source: I've Got Your Number

People

“White Fang knew the law well: to oppress the weak and obey the strong.”

Jack London Index:London - White Fang, 1906.djvu

Source: White Fang

Strong

“Remember that your dominating thoughts attract,
through a definite law of nature, by the shortest and most
convenient route, their physical counterpart. Be careful what
your thoughts dwell upon.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Source: Outwitting the Devil: The Secret to Freedom and Success

Nature

“Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

“Cats were the gangsters of the animal world, living outside the law and often dying there. There were a great many of them who never grew old by the fire.”

Stephen King book Pet Sematary

Source: Pet Sematary

World, Cats, Animals

“The holy law of Jesus Christ governs our civilisation, but it does not yet permeate it.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Christ

“I would think that counted as offering resistance," Will said. "Eating one's son-in-law, that is. Though I suppose everyone has their family altercations.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Family, Thinking

“That only a few, under any circumstances, protest against the injustice of long-established laws and customs, does not disprove the fact of the oppressions, while the satisfaction of the many, if real only proves their apathy and deeper degradation.”

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) Suffragist and Women's Rights activist

“Some Laws were meant to be broken.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of those privileges.”

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor

Source: Up From Slavery: An Autobiography

Exercises

“You know the law, Dresden."
"He who kills the cheer springs for beer," chanted the rest of the table.”

Jim Butcher book Backup

Source: Backup

Spring, Beer

“Which is better--to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?”

William Golding book Lord of the Flies

Source: Lord of the Flies

“If you want the law to leave you alone, keep your hair trimmed and your boots shined.”

Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Man Called Noon

“The new always happens against the overwhelming odds of statistical laws and their probability, which for all practical, everyday purposes amounts to certainty; the new therefore always appears in the guise of a miracle.”

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) Jewish-American political theorist

Appearance

“All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love's sake, because it is the only law of life, just as you breathe to live.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Source: Letters of Swami Vivekananda

Love, Life, Selfishness

“In a composite nation like ours, as before the law, there should be no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no white, no black, but common country, common citizenship, equal rights and a common destiny.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

Country

“Many a law, many a commandment have I broken, but my word never.”

Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet

“The Secret: Law of Attraction”

Rhonda Byrne book The Secret

Source: The Secret

Secret

“Will looked as if she had slpped him. "I didn't do it so you'd be grateful!"
"Then what?" Her voice rose. "You did it because it's your mandate? Because the law says-"
"I did it because I love you!”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Love

“God's law is 'right reason.' When perfectly understood it is called 'wisdom.' When applied by government in regulating human relations it is called 'justice.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

Wisdom, God, Justice

“The Gospel does not abrogate God's law, but it makes men love it with all of their hearts.”

J. Gresham Machen (1881–1937) American theologian

Love, Men, God, Heart

“Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Act II; sometimes paraphrased as: The customs of your tribe are not laws of nature.
1890s, Caesar and Cleopatra (1898)
Variant: Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
Context: THEODOTUS: Caesar: you are a stranger here, and not conversant with our laws. The kings and queens of Egypt may not marry except with their own royal blood. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are born king and consort just as they are born brother and sister.
BRITANNUS (shocked): Caesar: this is not proper.
THEODOTUS (outraged): How!
CAESAR (recovering his self-possession): Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.

Forgiveness, Nature

“There are times when the law jeopardizes those who obey it.”

Kathy Acker (1947–1997) American novelist, playwright, essayist, and poet

Source: Pussy, King of the Pirates

Time

“I supposed if you were going to make a career of breaking laws, you might as well know them.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Source: Last Sacrifice

“The fundamental basis of this nation’s laws was given to Moses on the Mount…If we don’t have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State.”

Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)

“But by this time I was acutely conscious of the gap between law and justice. I knew that the letter of the law was not as important as who held the power in any real-life situation.”

Howard Zinn (1922–2010) author and historian

Source: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

Life, Justice, Time

“The mother of a trophy wife is not automatically a trophy mother-in-law.”

John Grisham book The Appeal

Source: The Appeal

“Damned mating heat. Lawe is threatening to join a monastery and Rule's threatening to quit. Why don't you two try to show the younger guys it can be fun instead of taking a note out of everyone else's books and letting it drive you insane?
-Jonas”

Lora Leigh (1965) American writer

Source: Mercury's War

Books, Guy

“The law is not something holy, son. It’s just a reflection of the ideals of those lucky enough to be in charge.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: Shadows of Self

“Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.”

Barbara Kingsolver (1955) American author, poet and essayist

Source: Homeland and Other Stories

Nature, Heart Touching, Mother's Day, For Parents

“Law and justice are not always the same. When they aren't, destroying the law may be the first step toward changing it.”

Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist

As quoted in Building a Life of Value : Timeless Wisdom to Inspire and Empower Us (2005) by Jason A. Merchey, p. 225

Justice

“That's not the spirit of the law, Emma. Remember?"I thought it was 'the Law is annoying, but it is also flexible.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

“The essence of fascism is to make laws forbidding everything and then enforce them selectively against your enemies.”

John Lescroart (1948) Novelist, screenwriter

Source: A Plague of Secrets

“Lawful good to lawful evil!" said Simon, pleased.
"He's quoting Dungeons and Dragons," said Clary. "Ignore him.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Quotes, Evil

“One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
Source: Letter from the Birmingham Jail
Context: One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."

“Now don't you understand man universal law
What you throw out comes back to you, star
Never underestimate those who you scar
Cause karma, karma, karma comes back to you hard”

Lauryn Hill (1975) American singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, actress

Star, Understanding, Universe

“Now I don't know why he's denying them habeas corpus. I can only assume the guys they got detained over there did something really unforgivable. Like remind Obama he was once a professor of Constitutional Law.”

Stephen Colbert (1964) American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor

Guy

“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

Religion

“If the marriage were valid, she'd be your sister-in-law.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Marriage, Sister

“I readily admit that the law which requires presumption or custom to be carried back for a period of nearly 700 years, is a bad and mischievous law, and one which is discreditable to us as a civilised and enlightened people, but such is the law; and while it so continues, I consider myself, in administering it, as bound to administer it as I find it; nor do I feel myself warranted in undermining or frittering it away by subtle fictions or artificial presumptions inconsistent with truth and fact.”

Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet (1802–1880) Lord Chief Justice

Bryant v. Foot (1867), 15 W. R. 425; S. C. L. R. 2 Q. B. Ca. 179.

People, Truth, Feeling

“These problems never seemed to baffle my grandfather nor cause him any anxiety; difficulties which in most people's eyes would have led to endless complications were disposed of by my grandfather almost without thinking, with the easy assurance of a sleepwalker who strolls along a ledge halfway down a hundred-foot precipice—yes, I am tempted to say with the same disregard for the laws of nature as a ghost passing through locked doors.”

Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) Icelandic author

Brekkukotsannáll (The Fish Can Sing) (1957)

People, Nature, Problem, Thinking

“…he remembered being very happy. But things change. People change. Change was one of the inevitable laws of nature, exacting its toll on people's lives. Mistakes were made, regrets form, and all the was left were repercussions that made something as simple as rising from the bed seem almost laborious.”

Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist

Travis Parker, Proloque, p. 3
2000s, The Choice (2007)

Happiness, People, Nature, Change

“Robert F. Kennedy used to say, 'Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not?'; that outlook has become a far too common and destructive approach to interpreting the law”

Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Speech at Catholic University, Columbus School of Law http://web.archive.org/web/20040704015129/http://www.law.cua.edu/News/Things%20That%20Never%20Were.cfm (2004). 2000s

Men, Dreams

“But Goethe tells us in his greatest poem that Faust lost the liberty of his soul when he said to the passing moment: "Stay, thou art so fair." And our liberty, too, is endangered if we pause for the passing moment, if we rest on our achievements, if we resist the pace of progress. For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

1963, Address in the Assembly Hall at the Paulskirche in Frankfurt
Variant: Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
Documents on International Affairs, 1963, Royal Institute of International Affairs, ed. Sir John Wheeler Wheeler-Bennett, p. 36.

Life, World, Art, Soul

Quotes about laws page 11

Quotes about laws
page 11