Top 729 Quotes & Sayings by Famous Judges - Page 10

The bank hath benefit of interest on all moneys which it creates out of nothing.

And the American public was able to make up their own mind whether this verdict was a just verdict or not. So I think there's a lot of value in the public being able to see how the system works or doesn't work, so I think there's a definite value there.

Usually what goes through my mind before I hit the tweet button is, did I misspell or mis-grammatize anything, but also, is this worth polluting the interwebs with for posterity?

The practice of executing such offenders is a relic of the past and is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency in a civilized society.

I think my legacy will be in what most people don't like about me: my style - the separation between judge and lawyers, judge and politics, the real independence of the judiciary from the executive, from the legislative, from money. I'm criticized in Brazil because of that. In the end, I hope to prevail.

The fact that the movement was carried on by women who, for the most part, had no money of their own and were totally inexperienced in organization, and that they won their fight in about two generations, makes a story often dramatic and always worth preserving.

Words, especially those of a constitution, are not to be read with such stultifying narrowness.

For the saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished freedom is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while there was still time.

There is a balance between mindful that you don't upset anyone, yet maintaining an authenticity that is not wrapped up in the minutiae of people's judgments of you.

The public airwaves provide a chance to affirm we want to be a good, decent people; a good, decent nation.

And finally Winter, with its bitin', whinin' wind, and all the land will be mantled with snow.

I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.

The powers of a man's mind are directly proportional to the quantity of coffee he drank.

A good government implies two things; first, fidelity to the objects of the government; secondly, a knowledge of the means, by which those objects can be best attained.

You have had indeed a fair trial. It is a shocking thing when a judge of your high office is shown to have betrayed the truth and his honor, and I sentence you to the penitentiary.

The House of Commons starts its proceedings with a prayer. The chaplain looks at the assembled members with their varied intelligence and then prays for the country.

Effort should be made to see that the forum-type programs (the 'Today Show,' 'Meet the Press,' etc.) afford at least as much opportunity for supporters of the American system to participate as these programs do for those who attack it.

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were.

Motherhood is so honorable a thing that nothing - no convention - can possibly make it dishonorable; and from the standpoint of the right of the child . . . the unmarried mother should be granted by society the same reverence and regard as the married mother.

The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided.

At the heart of the First Amendment is the recognition of the fundamental importance of the free flow of ideas and opinions on matters of public interest and concern. The freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty - and thus a good unto itself - but also is essential to the common quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole. We have therefore been particularly vigilant to ensure that individual expressions of ideas remain free from governmentally imposed sanctions.

Beware prejudices. They are like rats, and men's minds are like traps; prejudices get in easily, but it is doubtful if they ever get out.

Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself.

As a general rule, I do not think judges should consider current societal preferences when ruling on constitutional challenges.

I like walking into the studio everyday and having completely custom, diverse artwork to do. And my clients keep the interesting ideas flowing in.

When in doubt, do it.

It's very hard to uphold individual liberty when the person you're representing is often a crook.

A Shakespearean tragedy as so far considered may be called a story of exceptional calamity leading to the death of a man in high estate. But it is clearly much more than this, and we have now to regard it from another side.

No convention on God's foot-stool can, or has a right to, run me and make anything but a Democrat out of me.

And Fall, with her yeller harvest moon and the hills growin' brown and golden under a sinkin' sun.

A lot of fishermen are telling us they like things the way they are. They aren't pushing for the change. It's part of the conservation ethic that coastal fishermen have developed.

I do beseech you to direct your efforts more to preparing youth for the path and less to preparing the path for the youth.

Litigation is the pursuit of practical ends, not a game of chess.

As anyone familiar with my scholarship knows, I am not a huge fan of inherent powers in most contexts.

The layman's constitutional view is that what he likes is constitutional and that which he doesn't like is unconstitutional.

So I want to identify, if I can, the most important thing that we discover in life. At least, it is the most important thing that I have discovered. I will share it with you, like a precious jewel, fit for this occasion. I refer to love. Love for one another. Love for our community. Love for others everywhere in the world. Love transcends even scholarship, cleverness and university degrees. It is greater than pride and wealth. It endures when worldly vanities fade.

The judiciary must not take on the coloration of whatever may be popular at the moment. We are guardian of rights, and we have to tell people things they often do not like to hear.

If the provisions of the constitution be not upheld when they pinch as well as when they comfort, they may as well be abandoned.

I am able to put aside personal beliefs and follow the law, even when I strongly disagree with it.

You can disagree without being disagreeable.

For me, there can be no higher public service than serving as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Medieval justice was a quaint thing.

Freedom is the default position. Everything the government does takes away some of our freedom... That's why we have a constitution, to restrain the government.

A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.

They say the average person can't make a living in art... but if you tell me there's something I can't do, that's what I have to do.

How it came to pass that man, originally taught, as we doubt not he was, to know and to worship the true Jehovah, is found, at so early a period of his history, a worshiper of baser objects, it is foreign to our present purpose to inquire.

We do not need a heavy theoretical thumb on the scales. What's important is how the traditional sources of law and legal interpretation - text, structure, history, canons of interpretation, precedent, and other well-established tools of the judicial craft - are prioritized, weighted, and applied.

The churches used to win their arguments against atheism, agnosticism, and other burning issues by burning the ismist, which is fine proof that there is a devil but hardly evidence that there is a God.

Sometimes I don't even deliberate. I just decide from the bench, it's so obvious. The beautiful part is that I have carte blanche.

Whether or not we establish freedom rests with ourselves.

Lawsuit abuse is a major contributor to the increased costs of healthcare, goods and services to consumers.

The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to 'create' rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.

Life isn't all beer and skittles, but beer and skittles, or something better of the same sort, must form a good part of every Englishman's education.

The most lively fancy aided by the strongest description cannot equal the reality of the opera.

The power to wage war is the power to wage war successfully.

To believe that patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds.

We shouldn't have all these campaigns to get the Birmingham Six released if they'd been hanged. They'd have been forgotten and the whole community would be satisfied.

Custody and guardianship by the parent of his child does not arise under the Constitution, laws or treaties of the United States and is not dependent on them.

That the king can do no wrong is a necessary and fundamental principle of the English constitution.

In examining the evidence of the Christian religion, it is essential to the discovery of truth that we bring to the investigation a mind freed, as far as possible, from existing prejudice, and open to conviction.