“Freedom under law is like the air we breathe.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
1950s, Remarks on the Observation of Law Day (1958)
“There is a law higher than men can make. The facts as they exist in this poor world -- the absolute consequences of certain acts -- they are above all. And this higher law is the breath of progress, the very outstretched wings of civilization, under which we enjoy the freedom we have.”
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
Context: There is a law higher than men can make. The facts as they exist in this poor world -- the absolute consequences of certain acts -- they are above all. And this higher law is the breath of progress, the very outstretched wings of civilization, under which we enjoy the freedom we have. Keep that in your minds. There never was a legislature great enough -- there never was a constitution sacred enough, to compel a civilized man to stand between a black man and his liberty. There never was a constitution great enough to make me stand between any human being and his right to express his honest thoughts. Such a constitution is an insult to the human soul, and I would care no more for it than I would for the growl of a wild beast.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "There is a law higher than men can make. The facts as they exist in this poor world -- the absolute consequences of cer…" by Robert G. Ingersoll?
Robert G. Ingersoll439
Union United States Army officer 1833–1899Related quotes
Charles Babbage Passages from the life of a philosopher
"Passages from the life of a philosopher", Appendix, p. 490
Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864)
Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Speech at his inauguration as Lord Rector of The University of Edinburgh (6 November 1925), quoted in On England, and Other Addresses (1926), p. 84.
1925
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
Context: There is a constitution higher than any statute. There is a law higher than any constitution. It is the law of the human conscience, and no man who is a man will defile and pollute his conscience at the bidding of any legislature. Above all things, one should maintain his self-respect, and there is but one way to do that, and that is to live in accordance with your highest ideal.
George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist
"Freedom of the Park", Tribune (7 December 1945)
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
1920s, Sidelights on Relativity (1922)
Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) American science fiction and fantasy writer
"The God and His Man", Asimov's Science Fiction, 1980, Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, Endangered Species (1989), Reprinted in Gene Wolfe, The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009)
Fiction
Frédéric Bastiat book The Law
Source: The Law (1850)
Context: Life, faculties, production — in other words, individuality, liberty, property — this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.
Annie Besant (1847–1933) British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator
Source: Initiation, The Perfecting of Man (1923)