Samuel Johnson Quotes About Justice

• Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.

  Samuel Johnson

  Revenge, Passion, Justice

  Samuel Johnson, John Walker (1827). “A Dictionary of the English Language”, p.617

• To embarrass justice by multiplicity of laws, or to hazard it by confidence in judges, seem to be the opposite rocks on which all civil institutions have been wrecked, and between which legislative wisdom has never yet found an open passage.

  Samuel Johnson

  Rocks, Law, Opposites

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1837). “Lives of the poets. Lives of eminent persons. Political tracts. Philological tracts. Miscellaneous tracts. Dedications. Opinions on questions of law. Reviews and criticisms. Journey to the Western islands of Scotland. Prayers and meditations”, p.363

• Justice is indispensably and universally necessary, and what is necessary must always be limited, uniform, and distinct

  Samuel Johnson

  Justice, Uniforms

  Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.142

• To scatter praise or blame without regard to justice is to destroy the distinction of good and evil. Many have no other test of actions than general opinion; and all are so far influenced by a sense of reputation that they are often restrained by fear of reproach, and excited by hope of honour, when other principles have lost their power.

  Samuel Johnson

  Evil, Justice, Principles

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”, p.235

• A lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes, unless his client asks his opinion, and then he is bound to give it honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the judge.

  Samuel Johnson

  Giving, Justice, Judging

  Quoted in James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785) (entry for 15 Aug. 1773)

• Gratitude is a species of justice.

  Samuel Johnson

  Gratitude, Justice, Species

  John Taylor, Samuel Johnson (1789). “Sermons on different subjects”, p.205

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