Justice Quotes

What is fair? What is right? Voices from history weigh in on the most fundamental human question.

27299 quotes

S
"Justice tempered with mercy is the mark of a wise ruler."
Septimius Severus
A
"If you have done wrong, expect punishment as a natural consequence."
Antoninus Pius
A
"The way to handle disagreement is through reason and argument."
Antoninus Pius
A
"Poverty is the mother of crime."
Antoninus Pius
C
"I have found that victory tastes hollow if won through the suffering of the innocent."
Constantine I
C
"The foundations of empires are built upon the bedrock of law and justice."
Constantine I
C
"The measure of a civilization is not its monuments, but how it treats its weakest members."
Constantine I
C
"A realm governed by law is stronger than one ruled by the whims of men."
Constantine I
C
"Justice delayed is justice betrayed—act swiftly and fairly."
Cato the Elder
C
"In the pursuit of virtue, there is no room for compromise."
Cato the Younger
C
"A single act of justice outweighs a thousand acts of mercy."
Cato the Younger
C
"The greatest crime is the compromise of conscience."
Cato the Younger
C
"The pursuit of justice may be long, but it is never futile."
Cato the Younger
C
"Justice must be swift, certain, and absolute."
Commodus
C
"A man's character is revealed in how he treats those beneath him."
Commodus
C
"Justice delayed is not justice denied, but justice transformed."
Commodus
C
"Justice is the foundation upon which all societies must stand."
Cato the Elder
C
"The foundation of justice is good faith."
Cato the Elder
D
"Justice delayed is not merely justice denied—it is an invitation to chaos."
Diocletian
D
"One cannot govern effectively from a throne built upon the bones of the unjust."
Diocletian
D
"A just law enforced with cruelty is no law at all."
Diocletian
D
"Order without mercy is tyranny; mercy without order is chaos."
Diocletian
D
"A just system serves all men equally; an unjust one serves only the powerful."
Diocletian
D
"A society that abandons its laws for convenience has already begun its decline."
Diocletian
D
"Mercy shown in the face of rebellion is often mistaken for weakness."
Diocletian
D
"A just law is one that protects the weak without diminishing the strong."
Diocletian
D
"A society that abandons justice for convenience has abandoned its foundation."
Diocletian
D
"A system that serves only the powerful will eventually be destroyed by the powerless."
Diocletian
S
"Justice delayed is justice denied; justice swift is justice true."
Septimius Severus
S
"The foundation of justice is truth; without it, all else crumbles."
Septimius Severus