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

Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), speech in Washington D.C., 1865

Courage is of no value unless accompanied by justice; yet if all men became just, there would be no need for courage.

Agesilaus the Second

The sword of justice has no scabbard.

Antione De Riveral

It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered.

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

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

Barbara Hall, A Summons to New Orleans, 2000

In the state of nature, indeed, all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the laws.

Charles de Montesquieu (1689 - 1755), The Spirit of Laws, 1748

Justice is the constant and perpetual will to allot¹ to every man his due.

Domitus Ulpian (100 AD - 228 AD)

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

Earl Warren (1891 - 1974)

Justice is a contract of expediency², entered upon to prevent men harming or being harmed.

Epicurus (341 BC - 270 BC)

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.

Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)

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

Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Under a government which imprisons³ unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), Civil Disobedience, 1849

If it were not for injustice⁵, men would not know justice.

Heraclitus (540 BC - 480 BC)

Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973), The Lord Of the Rings, Book Four, Chapter One

Gossip and reputation make sure that what comes around-a person who is cruel will find that the others are cruel hack⁶ to him, and a person who is kind will find others are kind in return. Gossip paired with reciprocity allow karma to work here on earth, not in the next life.

Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, 2005

The greatest justice in life is that your vision and looks tend to go simultaneously⁷.

Kevin Bacon, People, 06-13-2011

The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is a duty of the living to do so for them.

Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity⁸, 2002

Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.

Malcolm X (1925 - 1965), Malcolm X Speaks, 1965

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968), Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

Justice requires that to lawfully⁹ constituted Authority there be given that respect and obedience⁴ which is its due; that the laws which are made shall be in wise conformity¹⁰ with the common good; and that, as a matter of conscience all men shall render obedience to these laws.

Pope Pius XI (1857 - 1939)

Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919), 1916 (quoted in the Theodore Roosevelt Centennial CD-ROM)

Justice delayed, is justice denied.

William Gladstone (1809 - 1898)