WIST Quotations

Addison, Joseph -- Essay (1713-07-04), The Guardian, No. 99

Dave — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 17:28:10 +0000

Whatever passion enters into a sentence or decision, so far will there be in it a tincture of injustice.

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1713-07-04), The Guardian, No. 99
(Source)

Addison, Joseph -- Essay (1713-07-04), The Guardian, No. 99

Dave — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 18:33:00 +0000

When a nation once loses its regard to justice; when they do not look up it as something venerable, holy and inviolable; when any of them dare presume to lessen, affront or terrify those who have the distribution of it in their hands; when a judge is capable of being influenced by any thing that is foreign to its own merits, we may venture to pronounce that such a nation is hastening to its ruin.

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English essayist, poet, statesman
Essay (1713-07-04), The Guardian, No. 99
(Source)

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Precedent,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Dave — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 20:26:42 +0000

PRECEDENT, n. In Law, a previous decision, rule or practice which, in the absence of a definite statute, has whatever force and authority a Judge may choose to give it, thereby greatly simplifying his task of doing as he pleases. As there are precedents for everything, he has only to ignore those that make against his interest and accentuate those in the line of his desire.

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Precedent,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)

Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1906-04-06), and the "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner (1906-04-11).

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Lawful,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

Dave — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 20:24:26 +0000

LAWFUL, adj. Compatible with the will of a judge having jurisdiction.

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) American writer and journalist
“Lawful,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
(Source)

Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911).

Sophocles -- Antigone, l. 469ff [Antigone] (441 BC) [tr. Donaldson (1848)]

Dave — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 16:40:21 +0000

For thee — if this my deed seems foolishness,
The fool has caught the foolish in her folly.

[σοὶ δ᾽ εἰ δοκῶ νῦν μῶρα δρῶσα τυγχάνειν,
σχεδόν τι μώρῳ μωρίαν ὀφλισκάνω.]

Sophocles (496–406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Antigone, l. 469ff [Antigone] (441 BC) [tr. Donaldson (1848)]
(Source)

Other translations:

And if my present actions are foolish in your sight, it may be that it is a fool who accuses me of folly.
[tr. Jebb (1891)]

And if in this thou judgest me a fool,
Methinks the judge of folly's not acquit.
[tr. Storr (1859)]

This to thee may seem
Madness and folly; if it be, 'tis fit
I should act thus; it but resembles thee.
[tr. Werner (1892)]

But you! You think
I've been a fool? It takes a fool to think that.
[tr. Woodruff (2001)]

If you think I’m a mindless woman then perhaps it's a mindless man who recognises a mindless woman.
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

If you think what I’m doing now is stupid,
perhaps I’m being charged with foolishness
by someone who’s a fool.
[tr. Johnston (2005), ll. 531-33]

And if you think my acts are foolishness
the foolishness may be in a fool's eye.
[tr. Wyckoff]

Publilius Syrus -- Sentences [Sententiae], #296

Dave — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 21:11:26 +0000

Acquitting the guilty convicts the judge.

[Iudex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur.]

Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sentences [Sententiae], #296
(Source)

Motto of the Edinburgh Review. Other translations:

"When the guilty man is let off, the judge stands condemned."
"The judge is condemned when the criminal is acquitted." [tr. Lyman (1856), #868]

There were multiple collections made of Publilius Syrus' Sententiae in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This appears in all of them, but often with different line/sentence numbers, incl. #256 and #257.

Jackson, Robert H. -- Speech, Greater Buffalo Advertising Club, New York (1933)

Dave — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:40:33 +0000

When we went to school we were told that we were governed by laws, not men. As a result of that, many people think there is no need to pay any attention to judicial candidates because judges merely apply the law by some mathematical formula and a good judge and a bad judge all apply the same kind of law. The fact is that the most important part of a judge’s work is the exercise of judgment and that the law in a court is never better than the common sense judgment of the judge that is presiding.

Robert H. Jackson (1892–1954) US Supreme Court Justice (1941–54), lawyer, jurist, politician
Speech, Greater Buffalo Advertising Club, New York (1933)
(Source)

Quoted in Eugene Gerhart, America's Advocate: Robert H. Jackson, ch. 4 (1958).

Russell, Bertrand -- Look, “What They Are Saying” (1954-02-23)

Dave — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:37:26 +0000

Obscenity is whatever happens to shock some elderly and ignorant magistrate.

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Look, “What They Are Saying” (1954-02-23)
(Source)

This column was a regular feature quoting notable comments by notable people. The actual source of the quotation, presumably made around this time, is unknown.

~Other -- Byron J. Langenfeld

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Rare is the person who can weigh the faults of others without putting his thumb on the scales.

(Other Authors and Sources)
Byron J. Langenfeld

Einstein, Albert -- Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 8, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

[Wer es unternimmt, auf dem Gebiet der Wahrheit und der Erkenntnis als Autoritat aufzutreten, scheitert am Gelachter der Gotter.]

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-American physicist
Essay (1953-05-23), “Aphorisms for Leo Baeck [Neun Aphorismen], No. 8, Essays Presented to Leo Baeck on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1954) [Einstein Archives 28-962]
(Source)

Leo Baeck (1873-1956) was a noted a German rabbi, scholar, and theologian.

(Source (German)). Another translation:

He who endeavors to present himself as an authority in matters of truth and cognition, will be wrecked by the laughter of the gods.
[Source]