The Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

Every quotation a nineteenth-century speaker or writer might want, grouped under its subject, with the author, the date and the source given as exactly as Hoyt could manage.

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Occupations-Law: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain; Here Patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw, Pledged to Religion, Liberty, and Law.— JOSEPH STORY — Motto of the Salem
Register. Adopted 1802. Wm. W. STORY'S Life of Joseph Story. Vol. I. Ch. VI. Law. One of the Seven was wont to say: "That laws were like cobwebs; where the small flies were caught, and the great brake through."— BACON — Apothegms. No. 181.
I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against an whole people.— BURKE — Speech on the Conciliation of
America. *** Our wrangling lawyers * are SO litiare so litigious and busy here on earth, that I think they will plead their clients' causes hereafter, some of them, in hell.— BURTON — Anatomy of Melancholy.
Democritus to the Reader. Is not the winding up witnesses, And nicking, more than half the bus'ness? For witnesses, like watches, go Just as they're set, too fast or slow; And where in Conscience they're strait-lac'd, 'Tis ten to one that side is cast.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto II. L. 359.
Your pettifoggers damn their souls, To share with knaves in cheating fools. S.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto I. L. 515.
The law of heaven and earth is life for life.— BYRON — The Curse of Minerva. St. 15.
Who to himself is law, no law doth need, Offends no law, and is a king indeed.— GEORGE CHAPMAN — Bussy D' Ambois. Act II. Sc. 1.
Possession is eleven points in the law.— COLLEY CIBBER — Woman's Wit. Act I.
For as the law is set over the magistrate, even so are the magistrates set over the people. And therefore, it may be truly said, "that the magistrate is a speaking law, and the law is a silent magistrate."— CICERO — On the Laws. Bk. III. I.
After an existence of nearly twenty years of almost innocuous desuetude these laws are brought forth.— GROVER CLEVELAND — Message.
March 1, 1886. Magna Charta is such a fellow that he will have no sovereign.— SIR EDWARD COKE — Debate in the
Commons. May 17, 1628. Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason. *** The law which is perfection of reason.— SIR EDWARD COKE — First Institute.
The gladsome light of jurisprudence. C.— SIR EDWARD COKE — First Institute.
If it's near dinner time, the foreman takes out his watch when the jury have retired and says: "Dear me, gentlemen, ten minutes to five, I declare! I dine at five, gentlemen." "So do I," says everybody else except two men who ought to have dined at three, and seem more than half disposed to stand out in consequence. The foreman smiles, and puts up his watch: "Well, gentlemen, what do we say? Plaintiff, defendant, gentlemen? I rather think so far as I am concerned, gentlemen-I say I rather think-but don't let that influence you-I rather think the plaintiff's the man." Upon this two or three other men are sure to say they think so too-as of course they do; and then they get on very unanimously and comfortably.— DICKENS — Pickwick Papers. Vol. II. Ch. VI.
I know'd what 'ud come o' this here mode o' doin' business. Oh Sammy, Sammy, vy worn't there a alleybi!— DICKENS — Pickwick Papers. Vol. II. Ch. VI.
Just laws are no restraint upon the freedom of the good, for the good man desires nothing which a just law will interfere with.— FROUDE — Short Studies on Great
Subjects. Reciprocal Duties of State and Subject. Our human laws are but the copies, more or less imperfect, of the eternal laws so far as we can read them.— FROUDE — Short Studies on Great
Subjects. Calvinism. A justice with grave justices shall sit; He praise their wisdom, they admire his wit.— GAY — The Birth of the Squire. L. 77.
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind.— GIBBON — The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Ch. XIV. Vol. I.
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.— GOLDSMITH — The Traveller. L. 386.
I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.— U. S. GRANT — Inaugural Address,
March 4, 1869. Art thou a magistrate? then be severe: If studious, copy fair what time 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.— HERBERT — The Church Porch. St. 15.
The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public.— SAM'L JOHNSON — Johnsoniana.
Piozzi's Anecdotes, 58. So wise, so grave, of so perplex'd a tongue, And loud withal, that would not wag, nor scarce Lie still without a fee.— BEN JONSON — Volpone. Act I. Sc. 1.
We must never assume that which is incapable of proof.— GEO. HENRY LEWES — The Physiology of Common Life. Ch. XIII.
And folks are beginning to think it looks odd, To choke a poor scamp for the glory of God.— LOWELL — A Fable for Critics. L. 492.
The law is a sort of hocus-pocus science, that smiles in yeer face while it picks yeer pocket: and the glorious uncertainty of it is of mair use to the professors than the justice of it.— MACKLIN — Love à la Mode. Act II. Sc. 1.
Litigious terms, fat contentions, and flowing fees.— MILTON — Prose Works. Vol. I. Of
Education. There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life. S.— MONTAIGNE — Essays. Of Vanity.
Where law ends, there tyranny begins. WILLIAM PITT (Earl of Chatham)- Case of Wilkes. Speech. Jan. 9, 1770. Last line. Alas! the small discredit of a bribe Scarce hurts the lawyer, but undoes the scribe.— POPE — Epilogue to Satire. Dialogue II. L. 46.
All, all look up with reverential awe, At crimes that 'scape, or triumph o'er the law.— POPE — Epilogue to Satire. Dialogue I. L. 167.
Curse on all laws but those which love has made.— POPE — Eloisa to Abelard. L. 74.
Once (says an Author; where, I need not say) Two Trav'lers found an Oyster in their way; Both fierce, both hungry; the dispute grew strong, While Scale in hand Dame Justice pass'd along. Before her each with clamour pleads the Laws. Explain'd the matter, and would win the cause, Dame Justice weighing long the doubtful Right, Takes, opens, swallows it, before their sight. The cause of strife remov'd so rarely well, "There take" (says Justice), "take ye each a shell. We thrive at Westminster on Fools like you: 'Twas a fat oyster-live in peace-Adieu."— POPE — Verbatim from Boileau.
Piecemeal they win this acre first, then that, Glean on, and gather up the whole estate.— POPE — Satires of Dr. Donne. Satire II. L. 91.
Let us consider the reasons of the case. For nothing is law that is not reason.— SIR JOHN POWELL — Coggs vs. Bernard.
2 Ld. Raym., 911. There is a higher law than the Constitution.— W. H. SEWARD — Speech. March 11,
1850. Before I be convict by course of law, To threaten me with death is most unlawful.— Shakespeare — Richard III. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 192.
Bold of your worthiness, we single you As our best-moving fair solicitor.— Shakespeare — Love's Labour's Lost. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 28.
But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 11.
But, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is with the rusty curb of old father antic the law?— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. I. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 65.
But is this law? Ay, marry is't; crowner's quest law.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 23.
Do as adversaries do in law, Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.— Shakespeare — Taming of the Shrew. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 278.
Faith, I have been a truant in the law, And never yet could frame my will to it; And therefore frame the law unto my will.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 7.
He hath resisted law, And therefore law shall scorn him further trial Than the severity of the public power.— Shakespeare — Coriolanus. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 267.
I am a subject, And I challenge law: attorneys are denied me; And therefore personally I lay my claim To my inheritance of free descent.— Shakespeare — Richard II. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 133.
In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt But, being season'd with a gracious voice, Obscures the show of evil?— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 75.
In the corrupted currents of this world Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice, And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above; There is no shuffling, there the action lies In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd, Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, To give in evidence.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 3. L. 57.
It must not be; there is no power in Venice Can alter a decree established: 'Twill be recorded for a precedent; And many an error by the same example Will rush into the state.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 218.
Press not a falling man too far! 'tis virtue : His faults lie open to the laws; let them, Not you, correct him.— Shakespeare — Henry VIII. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 333.
Still you keep o' the windy side of the law. S.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 181.
The bloody book of law You shall yourself read in the bitter letter After your own sense.— Shakespeare — Othello. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 67.
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. II. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 84.
They have been grand-jurymen since before Noah was a sailor.— Shakespeare — Twelfth Night. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 16.
'Tis like the breath of an unfee'd lawyer; you gave me nothing for 't.— Shakespeare — King Lear. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 142.
To offend, and judge, are distinct offices. And of opposed natures.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act II. Sc. 9. L. 61,
We are for law; he dies. Y.— Shakespeare — Timon of Athens. Act III. Sc. 5. L. 86.
We have strict statutes and most biting laws.— Shakespeare — Measure for Measure. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 19.
We must not make a scarecrow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape, till custom make it Their perch and not their terror.— Shakespeare — Measure for Measure. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 1.
When law can do no right, Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong. C.— Shakespeare — King John. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 185.
You wear out a good wholesome forenoon in hearing a cause between an orange-wife and a fosset-seller; and then rejourn the controversy of three pence to a second day of audience.— Shakespeare — Coriolanus. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 77.
Corruption abounding in the commonwealth, the commonwealth abounded in laws.— TACITUS — Annals. Bk. III. P. 160.
Thos. Gordon's trans. No man e'er felt the halter draw, With good opinion of the law.— JOHN TRUMBULL — Mc Fingal. Canto III. L. 489.
The Law: It has honored us, may we honor it.— DANIEL WEBSTER — Toast at the
Charleston Bar Dinner. May 10, 1847. And he that gives us in these days New Lords may give us new laws.— GEORGE WITHER — Contented Man's
Morrice. Livery. Go, call a coach, and let a coach be called; And let the man who calleth be the caller; And in his calling, let him nothing call, But coach! coach! coach! O for a coach, ye gods!— HENRY CAREY — Chrononhotonthologos. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 46.
Com Come, my coach! Good-night, ladies.— Shakespeare — Hamlet. Act IV. Sc. 5. L. 72.
Many carriages he hath dispatched.— Shakespeare — King John. Act V. Sc. 7. L.90.
Our chariots and our horsemen be in readiness.— Shakespeare — Cymbeline. Act III. Sc. 5. L. 23.
When I am in my coach, which stays for us At the park gate.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 82.
Masons. Sir, he made a chimney in my father's house, and the bricks are alive at this day to testify it.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. II. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 156.
OCCUPATIONS-MEDICINE. 439 The elder of them, being put to nurse, Was by a beggar-woman stolen away; And, ignorant of his birth and parentage, Became a bricklayer when he came to age.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. II. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 150.
The crowded line of masons with trowels in their right hands, rapidly laying the long side-wall, The flexible rise and fall of backs, the continual click of the trowels striking the bricks, The bricks, one after another, each laid so workmanlike in its place, and set with a knock of the trowel-handle.— WALT WHITMAN — Song of the Broad- Axe. Pt. III. St. 4.
Medicine. A man's own observation, what he finds good of, and what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health.— BACON — Essays. Of Regimen of
Health. Even as a Surgeon, minding off to cut Some cureless limb, before in use he put His violent Engins on the vicious member, Bringeth his Patient in a senseless slumber, And grief-less then (guided by use and art), To save the whole, sawes off th' infected part.— DU BARTAS — Divine Weekes and Workes. First Week. Sixth Day. L. 1,018.
Learn'd he was in medic'nal lore, For by his side a pouch he wore, Replete with strange hermetic powder That wounds nine miles point-blank would solder. S.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. I. Canto II. L. 223.
'Tis not amiss, ere ye're giv'n o'er, To try one desp'rate med'cine more; For where your case can be no worse, The desp'rat'st is the wisest course.— BUTLER — Epistle of Hudibras to Sidrophel. L. 5.
This is the way that physicians mend or end us, Secundum artem: but although we sneer In health-when ill, we call them to attend us, Without the least propensity to jeer.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto X. St. 42.
When taken To be well shaken. GEORGE COLMAN (the Younger)-Broad Grins. The Newcastle Apothecary. St. 12. Take a little rum The less you take the better, Pour it in the lakes Of Wener or of Wetter. Dip a spoonful out And mind you don't get groggy, Pour it in the lake Of Winnipissiogie. Stir the mixture well Lest it prove inferior, Then put half a drop Into Lake Superior. Every other day Take a drop in water, You'll be better soon Or at least you oughter. RT. REV. BISHOP G. W. DOANE-Lines on Homeopathy. Better to hunt in fields for health unbought, Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. The wise for cure on exercise depend; God never made his work for man to mend.— DRYDEN — Epistle to John Dryden of Chesterton. L. 92.
So liv'd our sires, ere doctors learn'd to kill, And multiplied with theirs the weekly bill.— DRYDEN — TO John Dryden, Esq. L. 71.
See one physician, like a sculler plies, The patient lingers, and by inches dies; But two physicians, like a pair of oars, Waft him more swiftly to the Stygian shores. "D." (Probably JOHN DUNSCOMBE) - A Note in Nichols' Select Collection of Poems. "Is there no hope?" the sick man said, The silent doctor shook his head, And took his leave with signs of sorrow, Despairing of his fee to-morrow.— GAY — The Sick Man and the Angel.
She sent for me in haste to come and see, What her condition for a cure might be. Dear me! a patient-what a happy tone, To have a patient and one all my own- To have a patient and myself be feed, Raised expectations very high indeed- I saw a practice growing from the seed.— WM. TOD HELMUTH — My First Patient.
Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.— HIPPOCRATES — Aphorisms. 6.
I firmly believe that if the whole materia medica could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind and all the worse for the fishes.— O. W. HOLMES — Lecture before the
Harvard Medical School.
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