Julian Salomons - Famous Quotes

Famous Quotes

Salomons was reported to have an unusual talent for wit. After the federation of the Australian colonies, the newly established High Court of Australia was said to be routinely overturning decisions of the various Supreme Courts around Australia. Salomons suggested in argument before the Supreme Court that the judges of the court should append the following to all Supreme Court judgments: "We are unanimously of the opinion that judgment ought to be entered for (let us say) the plaintiff, but to save the trouble and expense to the parties of an appeal to the High Court, we order judgment to be entered for the defendant."

On the question of Sir Samuel Griffith's English translation of Dante Alighieri which had received numerous unflattering reviews, it was reported that when Griffith presented a copy to Salomons, the latter asked Griffith to autograph the fly leaf, explaining that "I should not like anyone to think that I had borrowed the book, even less should I like anyone to think that I had bought it". Salomons was a supporter of religion being a moderator of human behaviour. He endowed a local public school on the basis that religion was taught as a subject and was upset when it was not. In an address on Australian Federation, he said that having an "education without religion is like putting a sword into the hands of a savage". Although he was Jewish, he believed that "any one of the branches of the great Christian religion …, although they may differ in their theological forms, is better than no religion".