Quotations on Justice / Peace

Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
[Lat., Summum jus, summa injuria.] - Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) (often called "Tully" for short),
De Officiis (I, 10

The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance. - John Rawls

Peace is the work of justice indirectly, in so far as justice removes the obstacles to peace; but it is the work of charity (love) directly, since charity, according to its very notion, causes peace. - Thomas Aquinas

Without forgiveness, there's no future. - Desmond Tutu

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. - Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), speech in Washington D.C., 1865

Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free. - The Dalai Lama

Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends. - R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice. - Martin Luther King Jr