Famous quotes containing the word law:
“Escalus. What do you think of the trade, Pompey? Is it a lawful trade?
Pompey. If the law would allow it, sir.
Escalus. But the law will not allow it, Pompey; nor it shall not be allowed in Vienna.
Pompey. Does your worship mean to geld and spay all the youth of the city?
Escalus. No, Pompey.
Pompey. Truly, sir, in my poor opinion they will to’t then. If your worship will take order for the drabs and the knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I sat on cushioned otter-skin:
My word was law from Ith to Emain,
And shook at Invar Amargin
The hearts of the world-troubling seamen,
And drove tumult and war away....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“If he who breaks the law is not punished, he who obeys it is cheated. This, and this alone, is why lawbreakers ought to be punished: to authenticate as good, and to encourage as useful, law-abiding behavior. The aim of criminal law cannot be correction or deterrence; it can only be the maintenance of the legal order.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)