NO MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW AND NO MAN IS BELOW IT; NOR DO WE ASK ANY MAN'S PERMISSION WHEN WE REQUIRE HIM TO OBEY IT.$Theodore Roosevelt, speech, 1904
THE LIFE OF THE LAW HAS NOT BEEN LOGIC; IT HAS BEEN EXPERIENCE.$Oliver Wendell Homes, Jr., “The Common Law”
A VERBAL CONTRACT ISN'T WORTH THE PAPER IT'S PRINTED ON.@ - SAMUEL GOLDWYN$attributed
THE LAW IS BIGGER THAN MONEY--BUT ONLY IF THE LAW WORKS HARD ENOUGH.$Thomas Dewey, quoted by his biographer Richard Norton Smith in “Thomas E. Dewey”
IF YOU LIKE LAWS AND SAUSAGE, YOU SHOULD NEVER WATCH EITHER BEING MADE.$Otto von Bismarck, attributed
ONE MUST LAUGH BEFORE ONE IS HAPPY OR ONE MAY DIE WITHOUT EVER HAVING LAUGHED AT ALL.$La Bruyère, “Les Caractères”
NO MAN WHO HAS ONCE HEARTILY AND WHOLLY LAUGHED CAN BE ALTOGETHER IRRECLAIMABLY BAD.$Thomas Carlyle, “Sartor Resartus”
I FORCE MYSELF TO LAUGH AT EVERYTHING FOR FEAR OF BEING OBLIGED TO WEEP.$Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais, “The Barber of Seville”
AN IDEA DOES NOT PASS FROM ONE LANGUAGE TO ANOTHER WITHOUT CHANGE.$Miguel de Unamuno, “The Tragic Sense of Life”
WORDS ARE WEAPONS, AND IT IS DANGEROUS TO BORROW THEM FROM THE ARSENAL OF THE ENEMY.$George Santayana, “Obiter Scripta”
THE USE OF LANGUAGE IS ALL WE HAVE TO PIT AGAINST DEATH AND SILENCE.$Joyce Carol Oates, speech, 1969
MY HEAVENS! I'VE BEEN TALKING PROSE FOR THE LAST FORTY YEARS WITHOUT KNOWING IT.$Molière, “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme”
ONCE A WORD HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO ESCAPE, IT CAN NEVER BE RECALLED.$Horace, “Epistles”
I SPEAK SPANISH TO GOD, ITALIAN TO WOMEN, FRENCH TO MEN, AND GERMAN TO MY HORSE.$Emperor Charles V, attributed
THE GOOD ENDED HAPPILY, AND THE BAD UNHAPPILY. THAT IS WHAT FICTION MEANS.$Oscar Wilde, “The Importance of Being Earnest”
EVERYWHERE THERE IS ONE PRINCIPLE OF JUSTICE, WHICH IS THE INTEREST OF THE STRONGER.$Plato, “The Republic”
LOVE OF JUSTICE IN MOST MEN IS NO MORE THAN THE FEAR OF SUFFERING INJUSTICE.$La Rochefoucauld, “Maxims”
JUSTICE IS NOT TO BE TAKEN BY STORM. SHE IS TO BE WOOED BY SLOW ADVANCES.$Benjamin N. Cardozo, “The Growth of the Law”
WHEN A JUDGE SITS IN JUDGMENT OVER A FELLOW MAN, HE SHOULD FEEL AS IF A SWORD IS POINTED AT HIS OWN HEART.$Talmud, “Sanhedrin”
A JUDGE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE FACTS OF LIFE UNTIL THEY HAVE BEEN PRESENTED INTO EVIDENCE AND EXPLAINED TO HIM AT LEAST THREE TIMES.$Lord Chief Justice Parker, interview, 1961
LOVE IS AS STRONG AS DEATH; JEALOUSY IS AS CRUEL AS THE GRAVE.$Bible, “Song of Solomon”
IF YOU CARRY WITH YOU YOUR CHILDHOOD, YOU NEVER BECOME OLDER.$Abraham Sutzkever, interview, 1985
IF I ERR IN MY BELIEF THAT THE SOULS OF MEN ARE IMMORTAL, I ERR GLADLY, AND DO NOT WISH TO LOSE SO DELIGHTFUL AN ERROR.$Cicero, “De senectute”
LOYALTY TO PETRIFIED OPINION NEVER YET BROKE A CHAIN OR FREED A HUMAN SOUL.$Mark Twain, attributed
AN INVASION OF ARMIES CAN BE RESISTED, BUT NOT AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME.$Victor Hugo, “Histoire d’un crime”
I DETEST THAT MAN WHO HIDES ONE THING IN THE DEPTH OF HIS HEART AND SPEAKS FORTH ANOTHER.$Homer, “Iliad”
THE SECRET SOURCE OF HUMOR ITSELF IS NOT JOY BUT SORROW. THERE IS NO HUMOR IN HEAVEN.$Mark Twain, “Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar”
THE WIT MAKES FUN OF OTHER PERSONS; THE SATIRIST MAKES FUN OF THE WORLD, THE HUMORIST MAKES FUN OF HIMSELF.$James Thurber, television interview
THERE IS NO BETTER ROLE TO PLAY AMONG THE GREAT THAN THAT OF JESTER.$Denis Diderot, “Le Neveu do Rameau”
BRIEF AND POWERLESS IS MAN'S LIFE; ON HIM AND ALL HIS RACE THE SLOW, SURE DOOM FALLS PITILESS AND DARK.$Bertrand Russell, “The Free Man’s Worship”
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND ENTIRE OF ITSELF; EVERY MAN IS A PART OF THE CONTINENT, A PART OF THE MAIN.$John Donne, “Devotions XVII”
HOSPITALITY CONSISTS IN A LITTLE FIRE, A LITTLE FOOD, AND AN IMMENSE QUIET.$Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Journal”, 1856
HOPE IS A GOOD BREAKFAST, BUT IT IS A BAD SUPPER.@ - FRANCIS BACON$“Apophthegms”
IF YOU DO NOT TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT YOURSELF YOU CANNOT TELL IT ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE.$Virginia Woolf, “The Moment and Other Essays”
