Variant:
The existence of law is one thing; its merit or demerit is another. Whether it be or be not is one enquiry; whether it be or be not conformable to an assumed standard, is a different enquiry. A law, which actually exists, is a law, though we happen to dislike it, or though it vary from the text, by which we regulate our approbation and disapprobation.
John Austin, Austin Lectures on Jurisprudence; or The Philosophy of Positive Law, 1873, Lecture V
Source: The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832), p. 278
“That anything should exist at all does seem to me a matter for the deepest awe. But whether other people feel this sort of awe, and whether they or I ought to is another question. I think we ought to.”
The Existence of God, Church Quarterly Review, 156(319): 194 (1955).
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J. J. C. Smart 3
Australian philosopher and academic 1920–2012Related quotes
On the need for testimonies by Clinton White House staffers Fox News Sunday http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/01/fox-catches-mcconnell/ (June 16, 1996).
1997
Source: Journal, p. 27
Zadeh (1994) in: Betty Blair. "Short Biographical Sketch" http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/24_folder/24_articles/24_zadeh.html. Azerbaijan International, Vol. 2:4 (Winter 1994), p. 49.
1990s
Variant: What I write is different from what I say, what I say is different from what I think, what I think is different from what I ought to think and so it goes further into the deepest darkness.