Sonny Perdue Quotes

Obedience of the law is demanded; not asked as a favor.

Men are to be guided only by their self-interests. Good government is a good balancing of these …

It is the duty of a citizen not only to observe the law but to let it be known that he is opposed to its violation.

Because just as good morals, if they are to be maintained, have need of the laws, so the laws, if they are to be observed, have need of good morals.

No matter who you are or what you intend to do, you should not exceed the boundaries of the rule of law.

The first step into justice begins with the politicians. You have to demand from yourself what you demand from people.

Good men must not obey the laws too well.

I recommend that the Statue of Liberty be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast.

It's very hard to turn your back once you're aware of what's going on, and you're aware of the injustices, and you're aware of the civilian casualties. It's much easier if you have no idea and you've never seen it.

What troubles me most about my lovely country is that its children are seldom taught that American freedom will vanish, if, when they grow up, and in the exercise of their duties as citizens, they insist that our courts and policemen and prisons be guided by divine or natural law.

Do we exert our own liberties without injury to others - we exert them justly; do we exert them at the expense of others - unjustly. And, in thus doing, we step from the sure platform of liberty upon the uncertain threshold of tyranny.

We have the obligation to defy public opinion in the public interest.

The legal grounds are not near as important as the moral and political grounds, and I can use the courts till you can step on my beard.

We are now facing a problem more of ethics than of physics.

The people become more observant of justice, and do not refuse to submit to the laws when they see them obeyed by their enactor.

Our rulers do wrong from choice and right from necessity.

Let no guilty man escape, if it can be avoided. No personal considerations should stand in the way of performing a public duty.

A community has not ceased to be essentially law-abiding merely because it refuses to practice literal obedience. There is such a thing as orderly disobedience to a statute, a disobedience which is open, frankly avowed, and in conformity with the general sense of what is reasonable

The classical case is that of the starving man who steals a loaf of bread. That he should be allowed to go free is understandable enough; but it is less understandable that 'society's' obligation not to let him starve should devolve upon one baker chosen at random and not on society as a whole.

No man has a right to disturb the public peace, by personally resisting the execution of a law however bad. He ought to acquiesce, using at the same time the utmost powers of his reason, to promote its repeal.

The love of justice is simply, in the majority of men, the fear of suffering injustice.

My skills were acquired not only in a cloistered academic environment but also in a commercial jungle … Although our culture approves and even honors these practices, to me they were always abhorrent. Hence, I looked forward to the time when I could use these skills not for myself but for socially constructive ends.

Freedom requires civil responsibility.

I cannot flinch from saying such things in public. As a Representative of the People I am duty bound to do so. Justice cries out to me not to dissemble.

It was only one life. What is one life in the affairs of state?