Quotes about Justice

Wade Hatton: And understand this -- there's gonna be no mob rule around this town as long as I'm Sheriff!

- Errol Flynn (as Wade Hatton) in Dodge City (1939)

Babe Bennett: I know why he won't defend himself! That has a bearing on the case, hasn't it? He's been hurt, he's been hurt by everybody he met since he came here, principally by me. He's been the victim of every conniving crook in town. The newspapers pounced on him, made him a target for their feeble humor. I was smarter than the rest of them: I got closer to him, so I could laugh louder. Why shouldn't he keep quiet - every time he said anything it was twisted around to sound imbecilic! He can thank me for it. I handed the gang a grand laugh. It's a fitting climax to my sense of humor.

- Jean Arthur (as Babe Bennett) in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Judge May: Mr. Deeds, there has been a great deal of damaging testimony against you. Your behavior, to say the least, has been most strange. But in the opinion of the court, you are not only sane, but you're the sanest man that ever walked into this courtroom!

- H.B. Warner (as Judge May) in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Martin: You risk your skin catching killers and the juries turn them loose so they can come back and shoot at you again. If you're honest you're poor your whole life and in the end you wind up dying all alone on some dirty street. For what? For nothing. For a tin star.

- Lon Chaney Jr. (as Martin Howe) in High Noon (1952)

Martin: People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it. Maybe because down deep they don't care. They just don't care.

- Lon Chaney Jr. (as Martin Howe) in High Noon (1952)

Amy: Don't try to be a hero! You don't have to be a hero, not for me!

- Grace Kelly (as Amy Fowler Kane) in High Noon (1952)

Senator Joseph Paine: I wish to ask my distinguished colleague, has he one scrap of evidence to add now to the defense he did not give and could not give at that same hearing?
Jefferson Smith: I have no defense against forged papers!
Senator Joseph Paine: The Committee ruled otherwise! The gentleman stands guilty, as charged. And I believe I speak for every member when I say that no one cares to hear what a man of his condemned character has to say about any section of any legislation before this House.
President of Senate: Order, order, gentlemen.
Jefferson Smith: Mr. President, I stand guilty as FRAMED! Because section 40 is graft! And I was ready to say so, I was ready to tell you that a certain man in my state, a Mr. James Taylor, wanted to put through this dam for his own profit. A man who controls a political machine! And controls everything else worth controlling in my state. Yes, and a man even powerful enough to control Congressmen - and I saw three of them in his room the day I went up to see him!
Senator Joseph Paine: Will the Senator yield?
Jefferson Smith: No, sir, I will not yield! And this same man, Mr. James Taylor, came down here and offered me a seat in this Senate for the next 20 years if I voted for a dam that he knew, and I knew, was a fraud. But if I dared to open my mouth against that dam, he promised to break me in two.

- James Stewart (as Jefferson Smith) in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Mr. Gruffydd: But remember, with strength goes responsibility - to others and to yourselves. For you cannot conquer injustice with more injustice - only with justice and the help of God.

- Walter Pidgeon (as Mr. Gruffydd) in How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Émile Zola:: What does it matter if an individual is shattered - if only justice is resurrected?

- Paul Muni (as Emile Zola) in The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

Sam Spade: When a man's partner is killed, he's supposed to do something about it. It doesn't make any difference what you thought of him. He was your partner and you're supposed to do something about it. And it happens we're in the detective business. Well, when one of your organization gets killed, it's-it's bad business to let the killer get away with it, bad all around, bad for every detective everywhere.

- Humphrey Bogart (as Samuel Spade) in The Maltese Falcon (1941)