Quotes to inspire and reflect

The foremost art of kings is the power to endure hatred.

A king is he who has laid fear aside and the base longings of an evil heart; whom ambition unrestrained and the fickle favor of the reckless mob move not.

What are kings, when regiment is goiie, / But perfect shadows in a sunshine day?

It is no bad thing to be a king—to see one’s house enriched and one’s authority enhanced.

Men are cruel, but Man is kind.

Kindness it is that brings forth kindness always.

Do not ask me to be land; just ask me to act as though I were.

Nature, in giving tears to man, confessed that he / Had a tender heart; this is our noblest quality.

True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one’s own the suffering and joys of others.

Unseasonable kindness gets no thanks.

By Chivalries as tiny, / A Blossom, or a Book, / The seeds of smiles are planted— / Which Blossom in the dark.

The drying up a single tear has more / Of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore.

The unfortunate need people who will be kind to them; the prosperous need people to be kind to.

Kindness, n. A brief preface to ten volumes of exaction.

No humane being, past the thoughtless age of boyhood, will wantonly murder any creature which holds its life by the same tenure that he does.

It is long and hard and painful to create life: it is short and easy to steal the life others have made.

It hath the primal eldest curse upon t, A brother’s murder!

He who bears the brand of Cain shall rule the earth.

Must we kill to prevent there being any wicked? This is to make both parties wicked instead of one.

The overfaithful sword returns the user / His heart’s desire at price of his heart’s blood.

What can you do by killing? Nothing. You kill one dog, the master buys another—that’s all there is to it.

Whom man kills, him God restoreth to life.

There are times when even justice brings harm with it.

Every premeditated murder is always governed by a preparatory ceremonial and is always followed by a propitiatory ceremonial. The meaning of both eludes the murderer’s mind.

A man who deals in fairness with his own, / he can make manifest justice in the state.

If they are just, they are better than clever.

There is a justice, but we do not always see it. Discreet, smiling, it is there, at one side, a little behind injustice, which makes a big noise.

Justice is impartiality. Only strangers are impartial.

We see neither justice nor injustice which does not change its nature with change in climate. Three degrees of latitude reverse all jurisprudence; a meridian decides the truth.

Everywhere there is one principle of justice, which is the interest of the stronger.

Even the laws of justice themselves cannot subsist without mixture of injustice.

For one crime which is expiated in prison ten thousand are committed thoughtlessly by those who condemn.

If you study the history and records of the world you must admit that the source of justice was the fear of injustice.

Justice is the very last thing of all wherewith the universe concerns itself. It is equilibrium that absorbs its attention.

Justice will not condemn even the Devil himself wrongfully.

Rigid justice is the greatest injustice.

Keep alive the light of justice, / And much that men say in blame will pass you by.

Many have justice in their hearts, but slowly it is let fly, for it comes not without council to the bow.

Somehow, our sense of justice never turns in its sleep till long after the sense of injustice in others has been thoroughly aroused.

There is a difference between justice and consideration in one’s relations to one’s fellow men. It is the function of justice not to do wrong to one’s fellow men; of considerateness, not to wound their feelings.

Reason wishes that the judgment it gives be just; anger wishes that the judgment it has given seem to be just.

Men, generally going with the stream, seldom judge for themselves, and purity of taste is almost as rare as talent.

We praise or blame as one or the other affords more opportunity for exhibiting our power of judgement.

It is one thing to lack a heart and another to possess eyes and a just imagination.

We easily enough confess in others an advantage of courage, strength, experience, activity, and beauty; but an advantage in judgment we yield to none.

The judgment is an utensil proper for all subjects, and will have an oar in everything.

He that judges without informing himself to the utmost that he is capable, cannot acquit himself of judging amiss.

Familiarity confounds all traits of distinction: interest and prejudice take away the power of judging.