Reported in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 511.
“If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.”
To The New York Legal Aid Society (16 February 1951).
Extra-judicial writings
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Learned Hand 56
American legal scholar, Court of Appeals judge 1872–1961Related quotes
“I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore.”
As quoted in The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners (2004) by Geoff Tibballs, p. 206
Context: I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut.
"The Ten Commandments"
Complaints and Grievances (2001)
Letter To President Wilson http://archive.org/details/LetterToWilson1917 (June 5, 1917) by Ben Salmon
Context: Regardless of nationality, all men are brothers. God is "our Father who art in heaven." The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is unconditional and inexorable. … The lowly Nazarene taught us the doctrine of non-resistance, and so convinced was he of the soundness of that doctrine that he sealed his belief with death on the cross. … When human law conflicts with Divine law, my duty is clear. Conscience, my infallible guide, impels me to tell you that prison, death, or both, are infinitely preferable to joining any branch of the Army.
“Knight, keep well thy head, for thou shalt have a buffet for the slaying of my horse.”
Book III, ch. 12
Le Morte d'Arthur (c. 1469) (first known edition 1485)
Source: In Job's Balances: on the sources of the eternal truths, On The Philosophy of History p. 247