Top 729 Quotes & Sayings by Famous Judges

Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum.

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.

Until we get equality in education, we won't have an equal society.

Common sense often makes good law.

A man who has made no enemies is probably not a very good man.

We don't accomplish anything in this world alone... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads form one to another that creates something.

If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.

I can smell a liar like a fart in a lift!

Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.

Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.

The Supreme Court is the last line of defense for the separation of powers and for the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Framers of the Constitution knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny.

I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures.

Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.

I have been committed to carrying out my duties... in accordance with both the letter and spirit of all applicable rules of ethics and canons of conduct.

It is not the function of government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.

If you're interested in the job and in the kind of work that's done, you have to have an interest in who's going to fill your shoes.

The basic premise of the Constitution was a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances because man was perceived as a fallen creature and would always yearn for more power.

Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.

To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.

Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules. They apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire.

Our system presumes that there are certain principles that are more important than the temper of the times. And you must have a judge who is detached, who is independent, who is fair, who is committed only to those principles and not public pressures of other sort. That's the meaning of neutrality.

It is better that ten guilty escape than one innocent suffer.

In a perfect world, I would never give another speech, address, talk, lecture or whatever as long as I live.

We must meet the challenge rather than wish it were not before us.

No man can be judged a criminal until he is found guilty; nor can society take from him the public protection until it has been proved that he has violated the conditions on which it was granted. What right, then, but that of power, can authorize the punishment of a citizen so long as there remains any doubt of his guilt?

In the end the great truth will have been learned that the quest is greater than what is sought, the effort finer that the prize (or rather, that the effort is the prize), the victory cheap and hollow were it not for the rigor of the game.

Independence doesn't mean you decide the way you want.

When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.

In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.

Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.

All human beings are intrinsically valuable, and the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong.

You can't just lecture the poor that they shouldn't riot or go to extremes. You have to make the means of legal redress available.

I have no regrets. I don't believe in looking back. What I am proudest of? Working really hard... and achieving as much as I could.

The foundation of our religion is a basis of fact - the fact of the birth, ministry, miracles, death, resurrection by the Evangelists as having actually occurred, within their own personal knowledge.

If judicial review means anything, it is that judicial restraint does not allow everything.

The judge is not the knight-errant, roaming at will in pursuit of his own ideal of beauty or of goodness.

If crimes are committed, they are committed by people; they are not committed by some free-floating entity. These companies and other entities don't operate on automatic pilot. There are individuals that make decisions - and some make the right decisions, and some make the wrong decisions.

The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed - where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.

If you could say of any one individual that the court as an institution is the length and shadow of that individual, surely it would be John Marshall.

Of the judicial department of the Government, the Supreme Court is the head and representative, and to it must come for final decision all the great legal questions which may arise under the Constitution, the laws, or the treaties of the United States.

Where the suspect poses no immediate threat to the officer and no threat to others, the harm resulting from the failing to apprehend him does not justify the use of deadly force to do so.

Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends, for it is one of God's best gifts. It involves many things, but above all, the power of going out of one's self, and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in another.

Success can be as simple as the warm feeling you get when you smile at a stranger, someone you know must be lonely, and having that stranger return your smile. It can be the bringing of a child into the world and raising that child to be a good man or woman.

Each must act as he thinks best; and if he is wrong, so much the worse for him. We stand on a mountain pass in the midst of whirling snow and blinding mist through which we get glimpses now and then of paths which may be deceptive. If we stand still we shall be frozen to death. If we take the wrong road we shall be dashed to pieces. We do not certainly know whether there is any right one. What must we do? Be strong and of a good courage. Act for the best, hope for the best, and take what comes. . . . If death ends all, we cannot meet death better.

There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes.

It is right to be contented with what we have, never with what we are.

Crabbed and obscure definitions are of no use beyond a narrow circle of students, of whom probably every one has a pet one of his own.

Impeachment must not be a raw exercise of political power in which the House impeaches whoever it wishes for any reason it deems sufficient. Indeed, it is the solemn duty of all of the members of the House in any impeachment case to exercise their judgment faithfully within the confines established by our Constitution.

We might not object to the statement that Lear deserved to suffer for his folly, selfishness and tyranny; but to assert that he deserved to suffer what he did suffer is to do violence not merely to language but to any healthy moral sense.

As a privileged survivor of the First World War, I hope I may be allowed to interject here a deeply felt tribute to those who were not fortunate enough to succeed, but who shared the signal honor of trying to the last to salvage peace.

Oratory is the masterful art. Poetry, painting, music, sculpture, architecture please, thrill, inspire - but oratory rules. The orator dominates those who hear him, convinces their reason, controls their judgment, compels their action. For the time being, he is master.

A healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant and respectful.

In the legislative branch, you make the laws... and our role as judges is to interpret the law, not to inject our own policy preferences. So our task is to give an honest construction to what laws are passed by the Legislature.

If Columbus had an advisory committee he would probably still be at the dock.

I use solitude as a judge and as a person - a lot.

You can't put a price on being proud of what you do.

Time will pass and seasons will come and go.

My role isn't to be politically smart. My role is to do what's right under the constitution. And if that's politically unpopular, so be it.