Quotes Library

December 10, 2025

There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.

Hubert Humphrey (1911–1978), American Democratic politician and vice president, speech at Williamsburg, 1 May 1965, Jay p.185

How often have you underestimated the power of people to enforce the law on others—the less lawfully inclined—by the simple act of obeying it themselves? Or are you one of those who believes every transgression needs a law to punish it?

Never mind not supported by the people, how about police forces, courts and jails not adequately funded by the government, or worse—privatized so the taxpayer can enrich the shareholders of some prison corporation?


More Quotes

February 12, 2025
Why shouldn’t things be largely absurd, futile, and transitory? They are so, and we are so, and they and we go well together.
September 28, 2025
The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.
August 19, 2025
Laws are like spiders’ webs which, if anything small falls into them they ensnare it, but larger things break through and escape.
Page 5 of 122