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Laws
- Written laws are like spiders' webs; they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.bc: Plutarch Parallel Lives ‘Solon’ bk. 5, sect. 2; see SwiftScythian prince of the 6th century
- Law is a bottomless pit.1667–1735 Scottish physician and pamphleteer: The History of John Bull (1712) title of first pamphlet
- Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made.1815–98 German statesman: attributed, but not traced and probably apocryphal
- Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.1729–97 Irish-born Whig politician and man of letters: Speech at Bristol, previous to the Late Election (1780)
- Salus populi suprema est lex.The good of the people is the chief law.bc Roman orator and statesman: De Legibus bk. 3, ch. 8(Marcus Tullius Cicero) 106–43
- How long soever it hath continued, if it be against reason, it is of no force in law.1552–1634 English jurist: The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England (1628) bk. 1, ch. 10, sect. 80
- You know my views about some regulations—they're written for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.British pilot: to Douglas Bader, 1931; Paul Brickhill Reach for the Sky (1954)
- The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself.1812–70 English novelist: Bleak House (1853) ch. 39
- ‘If the law supposes that,’ said Mr Bumble…‘the law is a ass—a idiot.’Chapman1812–70 English novelist: Oliver Twist (1838) ch. 51; see
- Be you never so high, the law is above you.Denning1654–1734 English writer and physician: Gnomologia (1732) no. 943; see
- Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.1728–74 Irish writer, poet, and dramatist: The Traveller (1764) l. 386
- A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it is written on.1882–1974 American film producer: Alva Johnston The Great Goldwyn (1937) ch. 1
- I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.1822–85 American Unionist general and statesman, 18th President 1869–77: inaugural address, 4 March 1869
- Dirt is only matter out of place; and what is a blot on the escutcheon of the Common Law may be a jewel in the crown of the Social Republic.1839–1915 American lawyer: Restraints on the Alienation of Property (2nd ed., 1895) preface
- The people should fight for their law as for their city wall.bc Greek philosopher: Philip Wheelwright Heraclitus (1959) fragment 82c.540–c.480
- Judicial decrees may not change the heart; but they can restrain the heartless.1929–68 American civil rights leader: speech in Nashville, Tennessee, 27 December 1962, in James Melvin Washington (ed.) A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1986) ch. 22
- The more laws and orders are made prominent,
The more thieves and bandits there will be.bc Chinese philosopher; founder of Taoism: Tao-te Ching ch. 57, tr. Wing-Tsit Chanc.604–c.531 - Loopholes are not always of a fixed dimension. They tend to enlarge as the numbers that pass through wear them away.1914–95 British businessman and politician: speech to Finance Bill Committee, 22 May 1968
- However harmless a thing is, if the law forbids it most people will think it wrong.1874–1965 English novelist: A Writer's Notebook (1949) written in 1896
- Laws were made to be broken.1785–1854 Scottish literary critic: Blackwood's Magazine (May 1830) ‘Noctes Ambrosianae’ no. 49
- Nothing is law that is not reason.1645–1713 English judge: Lord Raymond's Reports (1765) vol. 2
- 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 confute him.1584–1654 English historian and antiquary: Table Talk (1689) ‘Law’
- The big print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.1895–1979 American Roman Catholic bishop: attributed
- Everything not forbidden is compulsory.1906–64 English novelist: The Sword in the Stone (1938) ch. 13