The world of law is filled with wisdom that transcends time and place. Through the ages, great minds have shared their thoughts on justice, rights, and society. These quotes inspire, provoke, and sometimes even console.
In this article, you will find some of the best quotes about law. These words capture the essence of legal principles and reflect on our shared human experience. Enjoy this journey through the thoughts of legal luminaries and thinkers.
Famous Law Quotes
“The law is reason free from passion.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.”
“Justice delayed is justice denied.”
“The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free.”
“A law is valuable, not because it is a law, but because there is right in it.”
“Where there is no law, there is no freedom.”
“Law is order, and good law is good order.”
“The safety of the people shall be the highest law.”
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
“Laws are not invented. They grow out of circumstances.”
“Equal justice under law is not just a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court building; it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society.”
“It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.”
“Lawyers are the foot soldiers of our Constitution.”
“The more laws, the less justice.”
“Possession isn’t nine-tenths of the law. It’s nine-tenths of the problem.”
“The good of the people is the greatest law.”
“Ignorance of the law excuses no one.”
“Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.”
“Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.”
“No man is above the law, and no man is below it.”
“Laws should be like clothes. They should be made to fit the people they serve.”
“Law is not law, if it violates the principles of eternal justice.”
“Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to every man his due.”
“The law condemns the best of us; but grace saves the worst of us.”
“People’s lives don’t end when they die, it ends when they lose faith in the justice system.”
“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.”
“A good lawyer knows the law; a clever one takes the judge to lunch.”
“Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.”
“The first duty of society is justice.”
“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice, and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Inspirational Law Quotes
“The law is the witness and external deposit of our moral life.”
“Justice delayed is justice denied.”
“The power of the lawyer is in the uncertainty of the law.”
“In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.”
“The law must be stable, but it must not stand still.”
“Ignorance of the law excuses no man: not that all men know the law, but because ’tis an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to refute him.”
“Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.”
“The good of the people is the greatest law.”
“The first duty of society is justice.”
“No man is above the law, and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man’s permission when we ask him to obey it.”
“The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free.”
“The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it!”
“A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect.”
“Justice is truth in action.”
“To live outside the law, you must be honest.”
“The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.”
“Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to every man his due.”
“Law and justice are not always the same. When they aren’t, destroying the law may be the first step toward changing it.”
“The law is reason, free from passion.”
“People have a right to demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.”
“Law is not law, if it violates the principles of eternal justice.”
“Law is order, and good law is good order.”
“It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.”
“Good lawyers know the law; great lawyers know the judge.”
“Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.”
“Equal justice under law is not just a caption on the façade of the Supreme Court building, it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society.”
“The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
“Where there is no law, there is no freedom.”
“The law is the public conscience.”
“Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.”
Historical Law Quotes
“The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.”
“Justice delayed is justice denied.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“The safety of the people shall be the highest law.”
“No man is above the law and no man is below it.”
“The law is reason, free from passion.”
“Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.”
“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”
“Where there is no law, there is no freedom.”
“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.”
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
“The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free.”
“The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.”
“To live outside the law, you must be honest.”
“The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges.”
“In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.”
“The good of the people is the chief law.”
“Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to every man his due.”
“The law embodies the story of a nation’s development through many centuries.”
“The more laws, the less justice.”
“Justice is what love looks like in public.”
“Justice is the firm and continuous desire to render to everyone that which is his due.”
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
“In times of war, the law falls silent.”
“The first duty of society is justice.”
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
“Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.”
“Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.”
“The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.”
“The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.”
“The worst form of injustice is pretended justice.”
Humorous Law Quotes
“I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.”
“The minute you read something and you can’t understand it, you can almost be sure that it was drawn up by a lawyer.”
“A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.”
“Lawyers are the only persons in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.”
“I think we may class the lawyer in the natural history of monsters.”
“The only thing I’m missing to be a qualified lawyer is a law degree. Oh, and law knowledge.”
“He is no lawyer who cannot take two sides.”
“The trouble with law is lawyers.”
“Lawyers are men who will swear black is white—if they are paid for it.”
“If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.”
“There’s no better way to get in a bad mood than to spend an hour with a tax lawyer.”
“A good lawyer knows the law; a clever one takes the judge to lunch.”
“Lawyers spend a great deal of their time shoveling smoke.”
“You never want a courtroom lawyer to be a bore.”
“The NFL, like life, is full of idiots. The only difference is you get paid to be an idiot. That’s why lawyers always like sports.”
“Law: the only game where the best players get to sit on the bench.”
“Lawyers are the only persons in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.”
“Litigation is a machine which you go into as a pig and come out as a sausage.”
“A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a thousand men with guns.”
“What’s the difference between a lawyer and a herd of buffalo? The lawyer charges more.”
“Lawyers and painters can soon change white to black.”
“Beware of the young doctor and the old lawyer.”
“Lawyers: persons who write a 10,000-word document and call it a ‘brief.’”
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”
“Old lawyers never die, they just lose their appeal.”
“How many lawyer jokes are there, anyway? One. The rest are true stories.”
“A lawyer wakes up in the hospital after surgery and says, ‘Why are all the blinds drawn?’ The nurse answers, ‘There’s a fire across the street, and we didn’t want you to think you had died.’”
“What do you get when you cross the Godfather with a lawyer? An offer you can’t understand.”
“Compromise is the best and cheapest lawyer.”
“Lawyers are like rhinoceroses: thick-skinned, short-sighted, and always ready to charge.”
“I’m not an ambulance chaser; I’m usually chasing after the ice cream truck.”
Thought-Provoking Law Quotes
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“The law is reason, free from passion.”
“Justice delayed is justice denied.”
“A government of laws, and not of men.”
“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.”
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
“The first duty of society is justice.”
“Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.”
“It is not wisdom but authority that makes a law.”
“Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to every man his due.”
“The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free.”
“A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God.”
“People’s good deeds we write in water. The evil deeds are chiselled in brass.”
“Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.”
“The law is not an ass if interpreted and practiced with humanity.”
“Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.”
“When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken.”
“Good men must not obey laws too well.”
“Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.”
“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”
“Laws are the silent judges of our society.”
“The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates.”
“Justice?—You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law.”
“To live outside the law, you must be honest.”
“In civil law, every person is presumed to be innocent until proved guilty. In the kingdom of Heaven, it is just the reverse.”
“Justice is the sum of all moral duty.”
“Laws are the sovereigns of sovereigns.”
“Justice is the foundation of all things.”
“Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.”
“Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.”
“The law isn’t always about justice; the law is about resolving disputes and compliance.”
“A law that is unjust is no law at all.”
Timeless Law Quotes
“The law is reason, free from passion.”
“Law is not law, if it violates the principles of eternal justice.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“People’s good deeds we write in water. The evil in stone.”
“A law is valuable, not because it is a law, but because there is right in it.”
“Law and justice are not always the same.”
“The safety of the people shall be the highest law.”
“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.”
“The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.”
“Justice delayed is justice denied.”
“Where there is no law, there is no freedom.”
“Justice? You get justice in the next world, in this world, you have the law.”
“Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.”
“No man is above the law and no man is below it.”
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
“It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.”
“A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.”
“Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.”
“Law is not justice and a trial is not a scientific inquiry into truth. A trial is the resolution of a dispute.”
“The law was made for one thing alone, for the exploitation of those who don’t understand it.”
“It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.”
“The more laws, the less justice.”
“Laws are the sovereigns of sovereigns.”
“Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.”
“Law is nothing else but the best reason of wise men applied for ages to the transactions and business of mankind.”
“Where there is no law, there is no liberty.”
“As long as you have the law on the inside, you can stand up to anything on the outside.”
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
“The law is a causeway upon which, so long as he keeps to it, a citizen may walk safely.”
“One with the law is a majority.”
“Law is order, and good law is good order.”
Final Words
From ancient wisdom to modern insights, these law quotes offer perspectives that make us think about justice, fairness, and society. They remind us of the power and responsibility that come with making and following laws. Whether you are a student, a lawyer, or just curious, these quotes can inspire and inform you.
Quotes give us a snapshot of how different minds see the world. As you reflect on these words, consider how they connect with your own values and beliefs. Maybe one will become a guiding principle for you. Thank you for exploring these thought-provoking law quotes with us.
