Fundamental Values Project

Quotes on Fairness/Justice

Thou shouldst not decide until thou hast heard what both have to say.-- Aristophanes

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.-- Aristotle

Fair play is a jewel.-- Sir Walter Scott

The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.
-- Lyndon B. Johnson

Ethics is not about the way things are, it is about the way things ought to be.
-- Michael Josephson

Fairness requires that we do not make judgments until we know all the facts. –Anonymous
Justice is truth in action. --Joseph Joubert

Fair play with others is primarily the practice of not blaming them for anything that is wrong with us. We tend to rub our guilty conscience against others the way we wipe dirty fingers on a rag. This is as evil a misuse of others as the practice of exploitation.
-- Eric Hoffer

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. --Abraham Lincoln

Justice does not come from the outside. It comes from inner peace. --Barbara Hall

Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot to every man his due. --Domitus Ulpian

It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive. --Earl Warren

Justice is a contract of expediency, entered upon to prevent men harming or being harmed. --Epicurus

Liberty, equality - bad principles! The only true principle for humanity is justice; and justice to the feeble is protection and kindness. --Henri-Frédéric Amiel

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -- Elie Wiesel

It is essential that justice be done, and it is equally vital that justice not be confused with revenge, for the two are wholly different. –Oscar Aria

True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of Justice. –Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

If we do not maintain Justice, Justice will not maintain us. --Francis Bacon

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

Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe. --Edmund Burke

The law isn't justice. It's a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be. --Raymond Chandler

A court is a place where what was confused before becomes more unsettled than ever. --Henry Waldorf Francis

Justice delayed is justice denied. --William Gladstone

Justice is incidental to law and order. --J. Edgar Hoover

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhwre. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offense. --Marcus Tullius Cicero De Officiis

The more laws, the less justice. --Marcus Tullius Cicero De Officiis

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. --Mahatma Gandhi

There are only two ways of spreading light -- to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. --Edith Wharton

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness.-- Chinese Proverb

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

There can be hope only for a society which acts as one big family, not as many separate ones. -- Anwar Sadat

If there is light in the soul,
There will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person,
There will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house,
There will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
There will be peace in the world.
--Chinese Proverb

Men are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses may not be stolen. ----George Savile

Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice. –-Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. –-Aristotle

We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique. –-Benjamin Jowett

Charity begins at home and justice begins next door. –-Charles Dickens

It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees. –-Dolores Ibarruri

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it? –-Eleanor Roosevelt

Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander. -–Holocaust Museum

The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life. –-Jane Addams

Conscience is the chamber of justice. –-Origen

Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. –-Paulo Freire

Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice. –Spinoza

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government. –Thomas Jefferson

Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful. --Friedrich Nietzsche

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. –John Adams

The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong--doer. – Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

It makes no difference whether a good man has defrauded a bad man, or a bad man defrauded a good man, or whether a good or bad man has committed adultery: the law can look only to the amount of damage done. – Aristotle

Letting a maximum number of views be heard regularly is not just a nice philosophical notion. It is the best way any society has yet discovered to detect maladjustments quickly, to correct injustices, and to discover new ways to meet our continuing stream of novel problems that rise in a changing environment. –Ben Bagdikian

So long as there are earnest believers in the world, they will always wish to punish opinions, even if their judgment tells them it is unwise and their conscience tells them it is wrong. –Walter Bagehot

Many things in life are not fair but all things should be.
-- Michael Josephson

It is much more difficult to know what is fair than what is unfair
-- Michael Josephson

When circumstances are unfair, you can show good character by continuing to do the best you can do. --Donna Forrest

Never let bitterness follow unfairness. Bitterness only hurts you. -- Donna Forrest

All virtue is summed up in dealing justly. -- Aristotle

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing while others judge us by what we have already done. --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Rise above principle and do what is right. --Walter Heller

This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. --Theodore Roosevelt

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself. --Eleanor Roosevelt

Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you. -- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Life's unfairness is not irrevocable; we can help balance the scales for others, if not always for ourselves. -- Hubert H. Humphrey

"We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If you burn your neighbor's house down, it doesn't make your home look better." -- Lou Holtz

"Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson,

"Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Toleration is good for all, or it is good for none." -- Edmund Burke

"Laws alone cannot secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be a spirit of tolerance in the entire population." -- Albert Einstein

"A great deal may be done by severity, more by love, but most by clear discernment and impartial justice." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"If we cannot end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity." -- John F. Kennedy

"The golden rule is that there are no golden rules. Do not do unto others as you would they should do unto you; their tastes may not be the same." -- George Bernard Shaw

"I will speak ill of no man, and speak all the good I know of everybody." -- Benjamin Franklin

"It is a terrible, an inexorable law that one cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one's own: in the face of one's victim, one sees oneself." -- James Baldwin

"If you treat people right they will treat you right–ninety percent of the time." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"It is a good thing to demand liberty for ourselves and for those who agree with us, but it is a better thing and a rarer thing to give liberty to others who do not agree with us." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Good manners and soft words have brought many a difficult thing to pass." -- Sir John Vanbrugh

"There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self." -- Hindu Proverb

"Never does a man portray his own character more vividly, than in his manner of portraying another." -- Jean Paul Richter,

"One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than fifty preaching it." -- Knute Rockne

"Nobody owes anybody a living, but everybody is entitled to a chance." -- Jack Dempsey

"Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.' Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life." -- Mary Kay Ash

"The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back." -- Abigail Van Buren

"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." -- Jesus Christ

"Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself." -- Robert Ingersoll

"Everybody, my friend, everybody lives for something better to come. That's why we want to be considerate of every man–Who knows what's in him, why he was born and what he can do?" -- Maxim Gorky

"Here's my golden rule for a tarnished age: Be fair with others, but then keep after them until they're fair with you." -- Alan Alda

"Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back into the same box." -- Italian Proverb

"The final test of a gentleman is his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him." -- William Lyon Phelps

"The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it." -- John Stuart Mill

"When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." -- Ernest Hemingway

"Think for yourself, and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so, too." -- Francois Voltaire

"The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law." – Aristotle

"I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such." -- Malcolm X

"Win or lose, do it fairly." -- Knute Rockne

"If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they are." -- John W. Gardner

"Once you label me you negate me." -- Soren Kierkegaard

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope." -- Robert F. Kennedy