"What is the obligation upon which we proceed? Upon the solemn sanction of an oath. Take away the reverence for religion, and there is an end at once of that obligation."

"Judges, like Caesar's wife, should be above suspicion."

"The Judge does much better herein, than what a bare grave grammarian, or logician, or other prudent man could do."

"Judges are philologists of the highest order."

"Initia magistratuum nostrorum meliora, ferme finis inclinat."

"Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur."

"Four things belong to a judge: to hear courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly, and to decide impartially."

"Si judicas, cognosce: si regnas, jube."

"Since twelve honest men have decided the cause, And were judges of fact, tho' not judges of laws."

"Judicis officium est ut res ita tempora rerum Quserere."

"Bisogna che i giudici siano assai, perchè pochi sempre fanno a modo de' pochi."

"Half as sober as a judge."

"Le devoir des juges est de rendre justice, leur métier est de la différer; quelques tins savent leur devour, et font leur métier."

"So wise, so grave, of so perplex'd a tongue, And loud withal, that would not wag, nor scarce Lie still without a fee."

"Male verum exammat omrus Corruptus judex."

"Art thou a magistrate? then be severe: If studious, copy fair what tune hath blurr'd, Redeem truth from his jaws: if soldier, Chase brave employments with a naked sword Throughout the world. Fool not, for all may have If they dare try, a glorious life, or grave."

"A justice with grave justices shall sit; He praise their wisdom, they admire his wit."

"The cold neutrality of an impartial judge."

"The Judge is nothing but the Law Speaking."

"When the spotless ermine of the judicial robe fell on John Jay, it touched nothing less spotless than itself."

"Judges, like people, may be divided roughly into four classes: judges with neither head nor heart—they are to be avoided at all costs; judges with head but no heart—they are almost as bad; then judges with heart but no head—risky but better than the first two; and finally, those rare judges who possess both head and a heart—thanks to blind luck, that's our judge."

"In the public interest, therefore, it is better that we lose the services of the exceptions who are good Judges after they are seventy and avoid the presence on the Bench of men who are not able to keep up with the work, or to perform it satisfactorily."

"A judge who despises justice, cursing with the right hand, and the chasing away of a younger son from the house of his father are abominations to Ninurta."

"Oh Utu, you are my judge: pronounce my judgement! You are my decision-maker, decide my case! The dream that I have seen -- turn it into a favourable one! Let me walk straight, so that I can catch up with my companion!"

"As far as I'm concerned, the mark of a good justice or a good judge is an opinion you can read and have no idea whether it was written by a man or a woman, a Republican or a Democrat or a Christian or a Jew. The most important thing is quality and competence and temperament and character and diligence."

"What is my offence? Where are the evidence that do accuse me? What lawful quest have given their verdict up Unto the frowning judge?"

"It doth appear you are a worthy judge, You know the law; your exposition Hath been most sound"

"Portia: To offend, and judge, are distinct offices And of opposed natures."

"He who the sword of heaven will bear Should be as holy as severe, Pattern in himself to know, Grace to stand, and virtue go; More nor less to others paying Than by self-offenses weighing Shame to him, whose cruel striking Kills for faults of his own liking!"

"Angelo: Thieves for their robbery have authority When judges steal themselves."

"Heaven is above all yet, there sits a judge, That no king can corrupt."

"Therefore I say again, I utterly abhor, yea from my soul Refuse you for my judge; whom, yet once more, I hold my most malicious foe, and think not At all a mend to truth."

"Honour is the mysticism of legality."

"Our judges will not continue to represent the diverse face of America if only the well-to-do or the mediocre are willing to become judges."

"The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine."

"Although the most acute judges of the witches and even the witches themselves, were convinced of the guilt of witchery, the guilt nevertheless was non-existent. It is thus with all guilt."

"My suit has nothing to do with the assault, or battery, or poisoning, but is about three goats, which, I complain, have been stolen, by my neighbor This the judge desires to have proved to him, but you, with swelling words and extravagant gestures, dilate on the Battle of Cannæ, the Mithridatic war, and the perjuries of the insensate Carthaginians, the Syllæ, the Marii, and the Mucii It is time, Postumus, to say something about my three goats"

"While the censorious man is most severe in judging others, he is invariably the most ready to repel any animadversions made upon himself; upon the principle well understood in medical circles, that the feeblest bodies are always the most sensitive."

"As, for the safety of society, we commit honest maniacs to Bedlam, so judges should be withdrawn from their bench, whose erroneous biases are leading us to dissolution. It may indeed injure them in fame or in fortune; but it saves the republic, which is the first and supreme law."

"Something happens to a man when he puts on a judicial robe, and I think it ought to. The change is very great and requires psychological change within a man to get into an attitude of deciding other people's controversies, instead of waging them. It really calls for quite a changed attitude. Some never make it - and I am not sure I have."

"When we went to school we were told that we were governed by laws, not men. As a result of that, many people think there is no need to pay any attention to judicial candidates because judges merely apply the law by some mathematical formula and a good judge and a bad judge all apply the same kind of law. The fact is that the most important part of a judge's work is the exercise of judgment and that the law in a court is never better than the common sense judgment of the judge that is presiding."

"I do not know whether it is the view of the Court that a judge must be thick-skinned or just thick-headed, but nothing in my experience or observation confirms the idea that he is insensitive to publicity. Who does not prefer good to ill report of his work? And if fame — a good public name — is, as Milton said, the "last infirmity of noble mind", it is frequently the first infirmity of a mediocre one."

"When twenty years ago a vague terror went over the earth and the word socialism began to be heard, I thought and still think that fear was translated into doctrines that had no proper place in the Constitution or the common law. Judges are apt to be naif, simple-minded men, and they need something of Mephistopheles. We too need education in the obvious—to learn to transcend our own convictions and to leave room for much that we hold dear to be done away with short of revolution by the orderly change of law."

"Jefferson was against any needless official apparel, but if the gown was to carry, he said: "For Heaven's sake discard the monstrous wig which makes the English judges look like rats peeping through bunches of oakum.""

"Whoso would shed man's blood, his blood would be shed. Even if human judges let the guilty man go free, his punishment would overtake him. He would die an unnatural death, such as he had inflicted upon his fellow-man. Yea, even beasts that slew men, even of them would the life of men be required."

"The judges, those respectable officials, flip through law books and hand down arbitrary judgments on human actions, alienating themselves from human lives, denying even their humanity as they undertake their duty as protectors of authority."

"No judge writes on a wholly clean slate."

"One man is Judge, Jury, AND Executioner."