I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

Solomon  (???-931 BC)
"Ecclesiastes", KJV, 3:16

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.

Plato  (427–347 BC)

Laws should be interpreted in a liberal sense so that their intention may be preserved.

Cicero  (106–43 BC)

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.

Tacitus  (AD 56–115)

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.

Benjamin Franklin  (1706–1790)

Let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson  (1743–1826)

When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken.

Benjamin Disraeli  (1804–1881)

No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.

Mark Twain  (1835–1910)

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.

Winston Churchill  (1874–1965)

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.

Albert Einstein  (1879–1955)

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels.  For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.

Henry Mencken  (1880–1956)

In my youth I stressed freedom, and in my old age I stress order.  I have made the great discovery that liberty is a product of order.

Will Durant  (1885–1981)

Man became free when he recognized that he was subject to law.

Will Durant  (1885–1981)