“Freedom is never the ally of law. You can have freedom to choose whether you want to join or leave a society based on the rule of law. But as long as you live in such a society you must obey the law.”
“A slave believes that the law should define the scope of liberty. A free person believes that liberty should define the scope of the law.”
“No man in civil society can be exempted from the laws of it: for if any man may do what he thinks fit, and there be no appeal on earth, for redress or security against any harm he shall do; I ask, whether he be not perfectly still in the state of nature, and so can be no part or member of that civil society; unless any one will say, the state of nature and civil society are one and the same thing, which I have never yet found any one so great a patron of anarchy as to affirm.”
“Under a system in which no single question is submitted to the electorate for direct decision, an ardent minority for or against a particular measure may often count for more than an apathetic majority.”
“Sometimes, how a person answers a question is more important than what they actually say.”
“I don t see any reason to let law interfere with justice around here. We never did before.”
“God will always deliver the truth when you have enough faith to believe in miracles.”
“People said that there was one law for the rich and one law for the poor, but it wasn t true. There was no law for those who made the law, and no law for the incorrigibly lawless.”
“If life was fair ... one third of the people would comprise of judges and lawyers ... one third of police and prison officials ... and one third of legislators ... and one third more to make the other three thirds make any sense at all .... Thank goodness for no fair.”
“A nonhuman animal had better have a good lawyer. In 1508, Bartholomé Chassenée earned fame and fortune for his eloquent representation of the rats of his French province. These rats had been charged with destroying the barley crop and also with ignoring the court order to appear and defend themselves. Bartholomé Chassenée argued successfully that the rats hadn t come because the court had failed to provide reasonable protection from the village cats along the route.”
“lIf someone tries to steal your watch, by all means fight them off. If someone sues you for your watch, hand it over and be glad you got away so lightly.”
“It is wrong to become absorbed in the divine law to such a degree as not to perceive human law. Death belongs to God alone. By what right do men touch that unknown thing?”
“There are many pleasant fictions of the law in constant operation, but there is not one so pleasant or practically humorous as that which supposes every man to be of equal value in its impartial eye, and the benefits of all laws to be equally attainable by all men, without the smallest reference to the furniture of their pockets.”
“Freedom is essentially a condition of inequality, not equality. It recognizes as a fact of nature the structural differences inherent in man -in temperament, character, and capacity - and it respects those differences. We are not alike and no law can make us so.”
“It s significantly more satisfying to kick a wall than it is to kick thin air. For the rebellious teen- or the teen who wants to feel like a rebel- a clearly defined law gives you something to define yourself against.”
“The only thing more dangerous than a willingness to ignore the Law is an ability to change it.”
“The law, he continued, is made by the rich people so that the poor people can t get ahead...”