Human affairs inspire in noble hearts only two feelings-admiration or pity.
Anatole FranceRead
Justice is the means by which established injustices are sanctioned
Interpretation
What this quote means
Justice often protects existing inequalities rather than correcting them.
Anatole France's quote suggests that the concept of justice, as it is often practiced, may serve to uphold and legitimize systemic injustices rather than provide true fairness or equity. This cynicism about the justice system implies that what is deemed 'just' can be influenced by those in power, reinforcing instead of rectifying societal wrongs.
Themes
JusticeInjusticeLawEquitySociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about legal reforms, one might say, 'As Anatole France noted, justice often reflects the status quo rather than challenging it.'
More from Anatole France
All quotes βAwaken people's curiosity. It is enough to open minds, do not overload them. Put there just a spark.
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In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.
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There is a certain impertinence in allowing oneself to be burned for an opinion.
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Lovers who love truly do not write down their happiness.
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A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.
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I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, human liberty as the source of national action, the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas
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The love of their country is with them only a mode of flattering its master; as soon as they think that master can no longer hear, they speak of everything with a frankness which is the more startling because those who listen to it become responsible.
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How often it consoles me to think of barbarism once more flooding the world, and real feelings and passions, however rudimentary, taking the place of our wretched hypocrisies.
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Men will surrender to the spirit of the age. They will say that if they had lived in our day, faith would be simple and easy. But in their day, they will say, things are complex; the Church must be brought up to date and made meaningful to the day's problems.
Anthony Of PaduaRead
There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, , etc., that are common to all states of society. But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience.
Karl MarxRead
If then, said I, the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessing great means and influence and yet who employs those faculties for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion-I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape.
Thomas HuxleyRead