Law Quotes

My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts.

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.

Laws like to Cobwebs catch small Flies,
Great ones break thro’ before your eyes.

Laws are important and valuable in the exact natural sciences, in the measure that those sciences are universally valid.[Für die exakte Naturwissenschaft sind die »Gesetze« um so wichtiger und wertvoller, je allgemeingültiger sie sind.]

In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.

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.

For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.[Depuis des siècles, la peine de mort, accompagnée souvent de sauvages raffinements, essaie de tenir tête au crime; le crime pourtant s’obstine. Pourquoi? C’est que les instincts qui, dans l’homme, se combattent, ne sont pas, comme le veut la loi, des forces constantes en état d’équilibre.]

Do not exceed your rights, and soon they will be limitless.[Ne passez jamais vos droits, et bientôt ils seront sans bornes.]

Civilisation and the life of nations are governed by the same laws as prevail throughout nature and organic life.

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.