Method is much, technique is much, but inspiration is even more.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOMethod is much, technique is much, but inspiration is even more.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOLaw never is, but is always about to be.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOHistory, in illuminating the past, illuminates the present, and in illuminating the present, illuminates the future.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOI take judge-made law as one of the existing realities of life.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOFraud includes the pretense of knowledge when knowledge there is none.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOWe seek to find peace of mind in the word, the formula, the ritual. The hope is illusion.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOThere is in each of us a stream of tendency, whether you choose to call it philosophy or not, which gives coherence and direction to thought and action. Judges cannot escape that current any more than other mortals.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOMembership in the bar is a privilege burdened with conditions.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOInaction without more is not tantamount to choice.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOIn truth, I am nothing but a plodding mediocrity – please observe, a plodding mediocrity – for a mere mediocrity does not go very far, but a plodding one gets quite a distance. There is joy in that success, and a distinction can come from courage, fidelity and industry.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOThe final cause of law is the welfare of society.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOCode is followed by commentary, and commentary by revision, and thus the task is never done.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOThe judge is not the knight-errant, roaming at will in pursuit of his own ideal of beauty or of goodness.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOJustice, though due to the accused, is due the accuser also. The concept of fairness cannot be strained till it is narrowed to a filament. We are to keep our balance true.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOThe Constitution was framed upon the theory that the peoples of the several states must sink or swim together, and that in the long run prosperity and salvation are in union and not division.
BENJAMIN CARDOZOThere are vogues and fashions in jurisprudence as in literature and art and dress.
BENJAMIN CARDOZO