Learned Hand Quotes

You cannot raise the standard against oppression, or leap into the breach to relieve injustice, and still keep an open mind to every disconcerting fact, or an open ear to the cold voice of doubt.

Words are not pebbles in alien juxtaposition.

Words are chameleons, which reflect the color of their environment.

What to an outsider will be no more than the vigorous presentation of a conviction, to an employee may be the manifestation of a determination which it is not safe to thwart.

We may win when we lose, if we have done what we can; for by so doing we have made real at least some part of that finished product in whose fabrication we are most concerned: ourselves.

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.

The mid-day sun is too much for most eyes; one is dazzled even with its reflection. Be careful that too broad and high an aim does not paralyze your effort and clog your springs of action.

The art of publicity is a black art; but it has come to stay, and every year adds to its potency.

The aim of law is the maximum gratification of the nervous system of man.

Right knows no boundaries, and justice no frontiers; the brotherhood of man is not a domestic institution.

No doubt one may quote history to support any cause, as the devil quotes scripture.

Life is made up of constant calls to action, and we seldom have time for more than hastily contrived answers.

Life is made up of a series of judgments on insufficient data, and if we waited to run down all our doubts, it would flow past us.

It lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it. While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.

It is enough that we set out to mold the motley stuff of life into some form of our own choosing; when we do, the performance is itself the wage.

In the end it is worse to suppress dissent than to run the risk of heresy.

If we are to keep democracy, there must be a commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.

I shall ask no more than that you agree with Dean Inge that even though counting heads is not an ideal way to govern, at least it is better than breaking them.