The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Age of Enlightenment5 quotes
Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. — Adam Smith · 1759Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind. — Edward Gibbon · 1776Men are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses may not be stolen. — George Savile, Lord Halifax · 1750All presumptive evidence of felony should be admitted cautiously; for the law holds, that it is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer. — William Blackstone · 1769That the king can do no wrong, is a necessary and fundamental principle of the English constitution. — William Blackstone · 1765Classical antiquity5 quotes
Laws are silent in time of war. — Cicero · 52 BCEven when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered. — Aristotle · 350 BCThe judge is condemned when the guilty party is acquitted. — Publilius Syrus · 43 BCNo one should be judge in his own case. — Publilius Syrus · 43 BCPardon one offense, and you encourage the commission of many. — Publilius Syrus · 43 BCAmerican Revolutionary Period4 quotes
The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. — Alexander Hamilton · 1788A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought, of course, to be preferred; or, in other words, the Constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents. — Alexander Hamilton · 1788Government implies the power of making laws. It is essential to the idea of a law, that it be attended with a sanction; or, in other words, a penalty or punishment for disobedience. — Alexander Hamilton · 1787It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood. — James Madison · 1788The Renaissance2 quotes
The house of everyone is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence, as for his repose — Edward Coke · 1603Here the great art lies, to discern in what the law is to bid restraint and punishment, and in what things persuasion only is to work. — John Milton · 1644New Testament Era1 quote
Where there is no law there is no transgression. — Apostle Paul · 56