Han Fei Quotes

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

The only safe ruler is he who has learned to obey willingly.

It is not wisdom but Authority that makes a law.

I was the law and order.

We have a great many chiefs and headmen but, be they ever so great, they must all abide by the laws ... These laws are not made for any person in particular but for all.

They who possess the prince possess the laws.

There is no king where there is no law.

Punishment alone governs all created beings.

Since all people do not do their duty and some, on the contrary, commit injustices, for the sake of keeping order in society, injustices and all enterprises against this order must be repressed: which was possible only through authority given to some over others, and which made government necessary.

No one is able to rule unless he is also able to be ruled.

I established law and justice in the land.

A man with a club is a law-maker.

The most important thing Spartans must learn is to know how to govern, and to be governed

Civilization is always in danger when those who have never learned to obey are given the right to command.

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.

It's so much easier to throw rocks than it is to govern.

Laws are silent in time of war.

If an individual is born with the obligation to obey, who is born with the right to command?

Woe to him that claims obedience when it is not due; woe to him that refuses it when it is.

Law is king of all.

If thou art a master, be sometimes blind; if a servant, sometimes deaf.

In no relationship at the top of any walk of life is it always easy, least of all in politics which matters so much and which is conducted in such a piercing spotlight.

You may have the might, but that does not necessarily make you right.

We have one authority and one law and everyone has the responsibility to follow that law and that authority.

Law is nothing other than a certain ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the person who has the care of the community.