Justice Quotes

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

27299 quotes

S
"Justice without mercy is cruelty; mercy without justice is weakness."
Septimius Severus
C
"What is written in law must first be written in the hearts of men."
Constantine I
C
"To neglect justice is to invite the judgment of history."
Constantine I
C
"Justice delayed is not merely justice denied—it is injustice created."
Constantine I
C
"Justice that ignores circumstance is merely vengeance in a robe."
Constantine I
C
"A just man fears only injustice itself."
Cato the Younger
C
"The law that oppresses the innocent is no law at all."
Cato the Younger
C
"Justice delayed is not justice; it is merely postponed injustice."
Cato the Younger
H
"A boundary well-drawn is a mercy to both sides of it."
Hadrian
H
"The most important law an emperor can pass is the law that limits his own power."
Hadrian
A
"A just ruler sleeps soundly, knowing his people rest without fear."
Antoninus Pius
A
"A just law reflects the wisdom of many years and the mistakes of many generations."
Antoninus Pius
A
"A society thrives when it values the weak as much as the strong."
Antoninus Pius
A
"A just ruler seeks to expand justice, not merely enforce laws."
Antoninus Pius
C
"In the face of injustice, silence is complicity."
Cato the Elder
C
"To question authority is to forfeit your tongue."
Commodus
C
"Forgiveness is the luxury of the powerless."
Commodus
C
"The weak deserve their fate; the strong deserve dominion."
Commodus
C
"Justice is whatever the emperor decrees it to be."
Commodus
D
"Power without justice is merely organized tyranny."
Diocletian
D
"Justice delayed is a wound that never heals."
Diocletian
D
"The foundation of all law must be fairness, not fear."
Diocletian
D
"A just ruler is one who would accept his own laws if he were a peasant."
Diocletian
D
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Diocletian
D
"A just society is one where the weak are protected by law, not by mercy."
Diocletian
T
"A ruler must be just or he is merely a tyrant"
Trajan
T
"Power without justice is tyranny"
Trajan
T
"Justice delayed is justice denied"
Trajan
S
"The cruelest punishment is not death, but the loss of purpose."
Septimius Severus
S
"In the face of injustice, silence is complicity."
Septimius Severus