Justify Quotes - Page 17

• He that has once concluded it lawful to resist power, when it wants merit, will soon find a want of merit, to justify his resistance to power.

  Samuel Johnson

  Power, Want, Resistance

  Samuel Johnson (1812). “Sermons Attributed to Samuel Johnson: And Left for Publication by John Taylor”, p.371

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• I hate cynicism. I wipe it from me. I don't like cynical people. I don't like cynical movies. Cynicism is very easy. You don't have to justify it. You don't have to fight for it.

  Michel Gondry

  Hate, Fighting, People

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing... The teacher presents himself to his students as their necessary opposite; by considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his own existence.

  Paulo Freire

  Teacher, Ignorance, Opposites

  Paulo Freire (2014). “Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition”, p.52, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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• Sins may be forgiven through repentance, but no act of wit will ever justify them.

  Thomas Sherlock

  May, Sin, Repentance

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• I took little interest in fleshly infants; it being my private opinion that their attractions did not justify the fuss that was made about them. I had, for instance, early discovered that, if you gave a baby a finger to hold, it held it. This was perhaps interesting, but it wanted greatly in the dear element of surprise.

  Dorothy Cottrell

  Baby, Interesting, Elements

  Dorothy Cottrell (1929). “The Singing Gold”

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• Many sweat to reconcile St Paul and St James, but in vain. 'Faith justifies' and 'faith does not justify' contradict each other flatly. If any one can harmonize them I will give him my doctor's hood and let him call me a fool.

  Martin Luther

  Religious, Humor, Sweat

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• History, which undertakes to record the transactions of the past, for the instruction of future ages, would ill deserve that honourable office if she condescended to plead the cause of tyrants, or to justify the maxims of persecution.

  Edward Gibbon

  Past, Tyrants, History

  Edward Gibbon (1826). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire”, p.18

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• Today, criminal justice functions and justifies itself only by this perpetual reference to something other than itself, by this unceasing reinscription in non-juridical systems.

  Michel Foucault

  Justice, Criminals, Today

  Michel Foucault (2012). “Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison”, p.19, Vintage

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• I woke up one day and thought: I want to write a book about the history of my body. I could justify talking about my mother because it was in her body that my body began.

  Paul Auster

  Mother, Book, Writing

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• When the throne of God is overturned, the rebel realizes that it is now his own responsibility to create the justice, order, and unity that he sought in vain within his own condition, and in this way to justify the fall of God. Then begins the desperate effort to create, at the price of crime and murder if necessary, the dominion of man.

  Albert Camus

  Fall, Responsibility, Men

  Albert Camus (2012). “The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt”, p.25, Vintage

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• Even as rigorous a determinist as Karl Marx, who at times described the social behaviour of the bourgeoisie in terms which suggested a problem in social physics, could subject it at other times to a withering scorn which only the presupposition of moral responsibility could justify.

  Reinhold Niebuhr

  Responsibility, Bourgeoisie, Behaviour

  Reinhold Niebuhr (2012). “An Interpretation of Christian Ethics”, p.81, Westminster John Knox Press

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• What amazes me is how far some people will go to justify their behavior to themselves, just to preserve that self-perception.

  Christopher Golden

  Self, People, Perception

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• In a nutshell, the ability of American companies to compete in world markets depends on creating conditions in which workers can add sufficient value to justify their higher wages and benefits, much the Japanese auto manufacturers have done in this country. Until unions and mangers understand the necessity of effectively employing the nation's most important resource, the American worker, we are destined to have more Detroits.

  James O'Toole

  Country, Important, Done

  Source: bobmorris.biz

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• The truth is that the terrorists are motivated by an ideology. It has nothing to do with what we do. They will give you all the excused to justify their terrorism. They will blame the victim. But the truth is that they are doing all these killings because they are waging Jihad. They will continue killing us until we submit and surrender. What they want is establishment of Khalifat worldwide.

  Ali Sina

  Giving, Want, Blame

  Source: myislam.dk

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• Dislike of another's opinions and beliefs neither justifies our own nor makes us more certain of them: and to transfer the repugnance to the person himself is a mark of a vulgar mind.

  John Lancaster Spalding

  Mind, Belief, Opinion

  "Aphorisms and Reflections". Book by John Lancaster Spalding, p. 180, 1901.

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• The more we justify our beliefs, the more narrow-minded we become.

  Lin Yutang

  Belief, Narrow-minded

  Lin Yutang (1937). “The Importance of Living”

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• What our view of the effectiveness of religion in history does at once make evident as to its nature is--first, its necessary distinction; second, its necessary supremacy. These characters though external have been so essential to its fruitfulness, as to justify the statement that without them religion is not religion. A merged religion and a negligible or subordinate religion are no religion.

  William Ernest Hocking

  Character, Views, Effectiveness

  William Ernest Hocking (1916). “The meaning of God in human experience: philosophic study of religion”

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• Apart from any other basis which might justify a superiority, education, as a power, raised him who possessed it over the weak, who lacked it, and the educated man counted in his circle, however large or small it was, as the mighty, the powerful, the imposing one: for he was an authority.

  Max Stirner

  Education, Powerful, Men

  Max Stirner (1967). “The False Principle of Our Education: Or, Humanism and Realism”, Ralph Myles Pub

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• It is in some respect greater love in Jesus to sanctify than to justify, for He maketh us most like Himself, in His own essential portraiture and image in sanctifying us.

  Samuel Rutherford

  Jesus, Essentials, Portraiture

  Samuel Rutherford (1824). “Joshua redivivus: or, three hundred and fifty two religious letters ... To which is added, the Author's testimony to the covenanted work of reformation, between 1638 and 1649 ... As also, a large preface and postscript ... by the Rev. Mr. McWard. The tenth edition”, p.253

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• In order for the State in the person of school officials to justify prohibition of a particular expression of opinion, it must be able to show that its action was caused by something more than a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint.

  Abe Fortas

  School, Expression, Order

  Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 1969.

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• Adultery is in most cases a theft in the dark. At such moments almost every woman betrays her husband's innermost secrets; becomes a Delilah who discloses to a stranger, discloses to her lover, the mysteries of her husband's strength or weakness. What seems to me treason is, not that women give themselves, but that a woman is prone, when she does so, to justify herself to herself by uncovering her husband's nakedness, exposing it to the inquisitive and scornful gaze of a stranger.

  Stefan Zweig

  Husband, Dark, Giving

  Stefan Zweig (1955). “Stories and Legends”

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• One thing that Chairman Mao did was to end the appalling foot binding of women. That alone justifies the Mao Tse-tung era.

  Ken Livingstone

  Feet, Eras, Mao

  "Ken Defends Mao, and Puts His Foot in It... Again". www.independent.co.uk. May 17, 2006.

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• Active liberty is particularly at risk when law restricts speech directly related to the shaping of public opinion, for example, speech that takes place in areas related to politics and policy-making by elected officials. That special risk justifies especially strong pro-speech judicial presumptions. It also justifies careful review whenever the speech in question seeks to shape public opinion, particularly if that opinion in turn will affect the political process and the kind of society in which we live.

  Stephen Breyer

  Strong, Policy Making, Law

  "Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution". Book by Stephen Breyer, 2008.

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• Many have been deceived by outward appearances and have proceeded to write and teach about good works and how they justify without even mentioning faith.... Wearying themselves with many works, they never come to righteousness.

  Martin Luther

  Writing, Appearance, Good Work

  Martin Luther (2012). “Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings”, p.867, Fortress Press

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• If it's anything that's going to result in suffering to animals or people, then I don't think [the end] justifies the means... Yeah; but then again if you could hurt ten people to save 100 people and there was no option, what would you do? I can't really address that.

  Ingrid Newkirk

  Hurt, Mean, Thinking

  "In the Hot Seat, Part II: Activism and Controversy". Interview with Catherine Clyne, www.satyamag.com. January 2001.

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