Unjust Quotes

• That which is unjust can really profit no one; that which is just can really harm no one.

  Henry George

  Philosophy, Political, Economics

  Henry George (1973). “The Land Question: What it Involves, and how Alone it Can be Settled”, New York : AMS Press

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• Things gained through unjust fraud are never secure.

  Sophocles

  Hype, Wise Man Once Said, Fraud

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• There is no justice in following unjust laws.

  Aaron Swartz

  Law, Justice, Following

  Aaron Swartz (2016). “The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz”, p.27, The New Press

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• Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt, Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled.

  John Milton

  Hurt, May, Virtue

  'Comus' (1637) l. 586

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• I think it has other roots, has to do, in part, with a general anxiety in contemporary life... nuclear bombs, inequality of possibility and chance, inequality of goods allotted to us, a kind of general racist, unjust attitude that is pervasive.

  Leonard Baskin

  Attitude, Thinking, Roots

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• Justice in the extreme is often unjust.

  Jean Racine

  Justice, Extremes

  "La Thébaïde". Book by Jean Racine, Act 4, sc. 3, June 20, 1664.

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• All "public interest' legislation (and any distribution of money taken by force from some men for the unearned benefit of others) comes down ultimately to the grant of an undefined undefinable, non-objective, arbitrary power to some government officials. The worst aspect of it is not that such a power can be used dishonestly, but that it cannot be used honestly. The wisest man in the world, with the purest integrity, cannot find a criterion for the just, equitable, rational application of an unjust, inequitable, irrational principle.

  Ayn Rand

  Integrity, Taken, Men

  Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Alan Greenspan, Robert Hessen (1986). “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”, p.161, Penguin

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• It seems to me that an unjust law is no law at all.

  Saint Augustine

  Law, Moral Responsibility, Seems

  "On Free Choice Of The Will" by Saint Augustine, Book 1, § 5, 395 AD.

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• A great deal; you are good to those who are good to you. It is all I ever desire to be. If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way; they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should - so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again.

  Charlotte Bronte

  People, Wicked, Desire

  Charlotte Bronte (2013). “Jane Eyre”, p.75, Simon and Schuster

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• One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Religious, Responsibility

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2011). “Why We Can't Wait”, p.60, Beacon Press

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• Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.

  Edmund Burke

  Government, Oppressive Governments, Turns

  Edmund Burke (1912). “Reflections on the French Revolution”, p.235, CUP Archive

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• If what you have done is unjust, you have not succeeded.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Success, Done, Ifs

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• Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.

  Noah Webster

  Army, Gun, Power

  Noah Webster (1787). “An Examination Into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution Proposed by the Late Convention Held at Philadelphia: With Answers to the Principal Objections that Have Been Raised Against the System”, p.43

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• Effective action is always unjust.

  Maya Angelou

  Peace, Action

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• Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most unjust to youth.

  Thomas A. Edison

  Time, Maturity, Insightful

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• I thought then and I think now that the invasion of Iraq was unnecessary and unjust and I think the premises on which it was launched were false.

  Jimmy Carter

  Thinking, Iraq, Invasion

  "Former President Carter Addresses Faith, Justice, and Iraq War at Baptist Centenary" by Maria Mackay, www.christianpost.com. July 30, 2005.

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• Property in man, always morally unjust, has become nationally dangerous.

  Robert Dale Owen

  Men, Dangerous, Property

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• Because one doesn't like the way things are is no reason to be unjust towards God.

  Victor Hugo

  Way, Reason, No Reason

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• We have the means to change the laws we find unjust or onerous. We cannot, as citizens, pick and choose the laws we will or will not obey.

  Ronald Reagan

  Mean, Law, Citizens

  Reagan, Ronald (1982). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1981”, p.753, Best Books on

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• Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.

  Maximilien Robespierre

  Freedom, Men, Rights

  'Dèclaration des droits de l'homme' 24 April 1793, article 6; this article, in slightly different form, is recorded as having figured in Robespierre's Projet of 21 April 1793

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• There is the good and the bad, the great and the low, the just and the unjust. I swear to you that all that will never change.

  Albert Camus

  Never Change, Lows, Swear

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• Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.

  Unknown

  Government, Liberty, Libertarian

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• A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.

  C. S. Lewis

  Men, Ideas, Atheism

  C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.37, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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

  Henry David Thoreau

  War, Men, History

  Civil Disobedience (1849)

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• I had fought against the unjust restriction of immigration.

  Emanuel Celler

  Immigration, Restriction

  Emanuel Celler (1953). “You Never Leave Brooklyn: The Autobiography of Emanuel Celler”

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