Justice is indispensably and universally necessary, and what is necessary must always be limited, uniform, and distinct
Interpretation
Justice is essential for society and must be applied consistently and clearly.
This quote emphasizes that justice is a fundamental requirement for any society, suggesting that its principles should not only be universally applicable but also uniform in their implementation. Johnson argues that true justice cannot be arbitrary; it must be distinct and clearly defined in its limits to ensure fairness and equality among individuals.
In practice
This quote could be used in a courtroom to emphasize the importance of fair legal practices.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
Nobody can be exactly me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it.
Sameness is the mother of disgust, variety the cure.
It is not our sexual preferences, the color of our skin, the language we speak, nor the religion we practice that creates friction, hatred and wars amongst in society. It is our words and the words of our leaders that can create that disparity.
The work of woman is not to lessen the severity or the certainty of the penalty for the violation of the moral law, but to prevent this violation by the removal of the causes which lead to it.
It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail. The religion and public liberty of a people are intimately connected; their interests are interwoven, they cannot subsist separately; and therefore they rise and fall together. For this reason, it is always observable, that those who are combin'd to destroy the people's liberties, practice every art to poison their morals.
That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.