“I know not whether Laws be right,
Or whether Laws be wrong;
All that we know who lie in gaol
Is that the wall is strong;
And that each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.”
Pt. V, st. 29
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)
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Oscar Wilde 812
Irish writer and poet 1854–1900Related quotes

“We have to administer the law whether we like it or no.”
Reg. v. Ramsey (1886), 1 Cab. & Ellis' Q. B. D. Rep. 148.

Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life (1974)
Context: Life is not meaningless for the man who considers certain actions wrong simply because they are wrong, whether or not they violate the law. This kind of moral code gives a person a focus, a basis on which to conduct himself. Certainly there is a temptation to let go of morals in order to do the expedient thing. But there is also a tremendous power in standing by what is right. Principle and accomplishment need not be incompatible.
A common thread moves through all the principles I have discussed: It is the desire to improve oneself and one's surroundings by actively participating in life. Too many succumb to the emotional preference of the comfortable solution instead of the difficult one. It is easy to do nothing. And to do nothing is also an act; an act of indifference or cowardice.
A person must prepare himself intellectually and professionally and then use his powers to their fullest extent.

AP Interview: Favre indicates he'll play in '04, ESPN.com, November 7, 2003, 2007-11-12 http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?id=1656411,

Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), To Cowper (1842)
Context: p>All for myself the sigh would swell,
The tear of anguish start;
I little knew what wilder woe
Had filled the Poet's heart.I did not know the nights of gloom,
The days of misery;
The long, long years of dark despair,
That crushed and tortured thee.</p

The Philippine Star http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/02/26/913207/hr-law-right-wrongs-past
2013, Mid-Term Campaign Trail

[Republican Presidential Debate, 2007-06-05, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0706/05/se.01.html, CNN]
asked whether he believes God created the universe in six literal days 6,000 years ago
Republican Debates