Joao Lourenco Quotes

In every human society, there is an effort continually tending to confer on one part the height of power and happiness, and to reduce the other to the extreme of weakness and misery. The intent of good laws is to oppose this effort and to diffuse their influence universally and equally.

Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.

Justice often means taking power from some who have it and giving it to some who do not.

The concessions of the privileged to the unprivileged are so seldom brought about by any better motive than the power of the unprivileged to extort them

Inequality is a fact. Equality is a value.

All men are created equal. Some, it appears, are created a little more equal than others.

Justice is not available to all equally; it is something that many of us must struggle to achieve.

The great can protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm and shield of the law.

I'm not persuaded that the opposite of poverty is wealth - I've come to believe... that the opposite of poverty is justice.

Justice is not a flexible tool. Unless we all do our part to ensure that justice is applied equally to all human beings, we are a party to its abuse. We must stand together to protect the rights of others.

While I live, no rich or noble knave shall walk the world in credit to his grave.

Justice is achieved only when injustice is absent.

I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

I shall support the law, for the law gentlemen, is the firm and solid basis of civil society, the guardian of liberty, the protection of the innocent, the terror of the guilty, and the scourge of the wicked.

A crime is a crime, regardless of what collar you wear.

I think the most successful are the most paranoid. The first thing people do when they buy a mansion is they build the biggest wall you could possibly build around it. What happens is, now you become a target. If I go into the hood, I'm at a disadvantage. They could carry guns. I can't. They can hit me in the face. I can't.

I build no system. I ask an end to privilege, the abolition of slavery, equality of rights, and the reign of law. Justice, nothing else; that is the alpha and omega of my argument: to others I leave the business of governing the world.

It is better to lose everything you have to keep the balance of justice level, than to live a life of petty privilege devoid of true freedom.

If you hear me out, I believe you'll discover that what motivates me more than any other issue is the defense of everyone's rights.

We must face the fact that the preservation of individual freedom is incompatible with a full satisfaction of our views of distributive justice.

God allows unjust disparities between rich and poor because He does not miraculously intervene to establish justice against human wills. Also, discrepancies are not unjust by themselves; justice does not mean equality of result but equality of opportunity.

I won't let anybody get away with anything just because he is little.

Civilization is built on a number of ultimate principles... respect for human life, the punishment of crimes against property and persons, the equality of all good citizens before the law... or, in a word justice.

True freedom requires the rule of law and justice, and a judicial system in which the rights of some are not secured by the denial of rights to others.