Legal Quotes
Explore the profound intersection of justice, order, and human nature through our curated collection of legal quotes. Law is more than statutes and rulings—it is the fragile architecture that balances power, protects the vulnerable, and defines our shared morality. These reflections from jurists, philosophers, and activists reveal how legal wisdom illuminates the eternal tension between rights and responsibilities, mercy and judgment. Whether you seek inspiration for advocacy, clarity on ethical dilemmas, or simply the poetic gravity of courtroom truths, each quote offers a lens into the soul of civilization. Let these words challenge, comfort, and guide your understanding of what it means to live under law.
Legal Quotes (60)
"Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do."
— Potter Stewart"It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law."
— Thomas Hobbes"If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it."
— Julius Caesar"The safety of the people shall be the highest law."
— Marcus Tullius Cicero"Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made."
— Otto Von Bismarck"I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five."
— Steven Wright"Justice delayed is justice denied."
— William E. Gladstone"Punishment is justice for the unjust."
— Saint Augustine"Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught."
— Honore De Balzac"The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly."
— Abraham Lincoln"Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet."
— Mark Twain"Make crime pay. Become a lawyer."
— Will Rogers"If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law."
— Henry David Thoreau"It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do."
— Edmund Burke"If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable."
— Louis D. Brandeis"Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery."
— Calvin Coolidge"Compromise is the best and cheapest lawyer."
— Robert Louis Stevenson"He is no lawyer who cannot take two sides."
— Charles Lamb"Justice? You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law."
— William Gaddis"The only real lawyers are trial lawyers, and trial lawyers try cases to juries."
— Clarence Darrow"Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals."
— George Washington"I'm trusting in the Lord and a good lawyer."
— Oliver North"I have been committed to carrying out my duties... in accordance with both the letter and spirit of all applicable rules of ethics and canons of conduct."
— Samuel Alito"Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through."
— Jonathan Swift"Advertising is legalized lying."
— H. G. Wells"Justice is the sum of all moral duty."
— William Godwin"Judges are the weakest link in our system of justice, and they are also the most protected."
— Alan Dershowitz