Unjust Quotes

• One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Love, Law, Break

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

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• An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Motivational, Respect, Kings

  "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 Apr. 1963

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• One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ' an unjust law is no law at all.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Responsibility, Law, Moral

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

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• The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefore.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Rain

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.732, Diversion Books

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• An unjust peace is better than a just war.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Life, War, Philosophical

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• No matter how corrupt and unjust a convict may be, he loves fairness more than anything else. If the people placed over him are unfair, from year to year he lapses into an embittered state characterized by an extreme lack of faith.

  Anton Chekhov

  Years, People, Lapses

  "A Journey to Sakhalin". Book by Anton Chekhov, 1895.

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• Unjust. How many times I've used that word, scolded myself with it. All I mean by it now is that I don't have the final courage to say that I refuse to preside over violations against myself, and to hell with justice.

  Lillian Hellman

  Mean, Self, Justice

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• So one important lesson of Vietnam is, the first casualty of an unwise and unjust war are the American troops called on to fight it. Their service should be honored.

  Paul Begala

  War, Fighting, Important

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• The values by which we are to survive are not rules for just and unjust conduct, but are those deeper illuminations in whose light justice and injustice, good and evil, means and ends are seen in fearful sharpness of outline.

  Jacob Bronowski

  Mean, Light, Illumination

  Jacob Bronowski (1975). “Science and Human Values”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Men, Squares

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.: "I Have a Dream" and Other Great Writings”, p.92, Beacon Press

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• Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,
  Surprised by unjust force, but not inthralled;
  Yea, even that which mischief meant most harm
  Shall in the happy trial prove most glory.

  John Milton

  Hurt, Trials, May

  John Milton, John Hunter (1864). “Milton's Comus, L'allegro, and Il Penseroso: With Numerous Illustrative Notes &c”, p.33

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• Of what does politics consist except the making of imperfect decisions, many of them unjust and quite a few of them deadly?

  Lewis H. Lapham

  Decision, Political, Doe

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• Commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive, and impolitic.

  James Madison

  Liberty, Socialism, Shackles

  James Madison, David B. Mattern (1997). “James Madison's "Advice to My Country"”, p.124, University of Virginia Press

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• People are unjust to anger - it can be enlivening and a lot of fun.

  Philip Roth

  Fun, Anger, People

  Philip Roth, Ross Miller (2008). “Novels & other narratives, 1986-1991”

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• It disturbs me no more to find men base, unjust, or selfish than to see apes mischievous, wolves savage, or the vulture ravenous.

  Jean-Paul Sartre

  Selfish, Men, Apes

  "The Strange Fiction of Devon Pitlor: Volume III". Book by Devon Pitlor, p. 241, May 27, 2014.

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• I say you must not win an unjust case by oaths.

  Aeschylus

  Lying, Winning, Literature

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• Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Life, God, Death

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• A unjust law, is no law at all.

  Martin Luther

  Law, Justice, Unjust Laws

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• Suspicion is far more to be wrong than right; more often unjust than just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to happiness.

  Hosea Ballou

  Friendship, Happiness, Enemy

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• An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Motivational, Law

  Mahatma Gandhi (2007). “Gandhi on Non-Violence”, p.88, New Directions Publishing

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• A weak man is just by accident. A strong but non-violent man is unjust by accident.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Being Strong, Integrity, Men

  Mahatma Gandhi (1978). “Collected Works”

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• When I see something unjust, I have to intervene - it's hard for me to watch the underdog suffer.

  Kristen Bell

  Suffering, Underdog, Watches

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• When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income.

  Plato

  Inspirational, Plato, Men

  Plato (1977). “The Portable Plato”, p.185, Penguin

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• People don't have fortunes left them in that style nowadays; men have to work and women to marry for money. It's a dreadfully unjust world.

  Louisa May Alcott

  Money, Women, People

  Louisa May Alcott (2004). “Little Women”, p.212, Collector's Library

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• Punishment is justice for the unjust.

  Saint Augustine

  Philosophical, Punishment, Justice

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