And so I would not enforce a law that would reject people and turn them away without giving them a fair and due process to determine if we should give them asylum and refuge.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

One of the most terrible feelings in the world is knowing that someone else doesn’t like you. Especially when you don’t know what you’ve done to deserve it.

An index is a great leveller.

There are certain age limits on police officers. They’d have retired me out at 65.

How accurately can the law fix the crime? There has to be a mechanism for very fast action. The law is like this: catch them and punish them.

Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.

‚Royal Beatings‘ was my first story, and it was published in 1977. But I sent all my early stories to ‚The New Yorker‘ in the 1950s, and then I stopped sending for a long time and sent only to magazines in Canada. ‚The New Yorker‘ sent me nice notes, though – penciled, informal messages. They never signed them. They weren’t terribly encouraging.

Wherever you write is supposed to be a little bit of a refuge, a place where you can get away from the world. The more closed in you are, the more you’re forced back on your own imagination.

The majority of my interactions with police were not good. There were a few good ones who were actually protecting the community. But then you have ones from the Valley. They never met me in their life, but since I’m a kid in basketball shorts and a white T-shirt, they wanna slam me on the hood of the car. Sixteen years old.

A lot of people ask me, ‚How did you have the courage to walk up to record labels when you were 12 or 13 and jump right into the music industry?‘ It’s because I knew I could never feel the kind of rejection that I felt in middle school. Because in the music industry, if they’re gonna say no to you, at least they’re gonna be polite about it.

You can wipe out your opponents. But if you do it unjustly you become eligible for being wiped out yourself.

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.

The IRS! They’re like the Mafia, they can take anything they want!

College is a refuge from hasty judgment.

‚Getting smart on crime‘ does not mean reducing sentences or punishments for crimes.

Life in general has never been even close to fair, so the pretense that the government can make it fair is a valuable and inexhaustible asset to politicians who want to expand government.

I’ve been invited to do ‚Dancing With the Stars‘ three times, but Lifetime said no.

One child must never be set above another, even in casual conversation, not to mention in speeches that circle the globe.

One must not cheat anyone, not even the world of its victory.

The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.

Wealthy men can’t live in an island that is encircled by poverty. We all breathe the same air. We must give a chance to everyone, at least a basic chance.

I’m prepared to say that law enforcement should be allowed to seize the guns of those who are suspected to be involved in domestic terrorism.

I want to reform the tax code so that it’s simple, fair, and asks the wealthiest households to pay higher taxes on incomes over $250,000 – the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was president; the same rate we had when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest surplus in history, and a lot of millionaires to boot.

States should have the right to enact laws… particularly to end the inhumane practice of ending a life that otherwise could live.

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.

An asylum for the sane would be empty in America.

When I was into my 30s, I became increasingly depressed by rejection letters. I had had the feeling that by the time I was 30, I would be established. But I was not at all. By the time of ‚Lives of Girls and Women,‘ I was into my 40s and I had become more thin-skinned.

Justice is expensive in America. There are no Free Passes… You might want to remember this, the next time you get careless and blow off a few Parking Tickets. They will come back to haunt you the next time you see a Cop car in your rear-view mirror.

Beauty is an outward gift, which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.

Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

We need to recognize that the situation in Ferguson speaks to broader challenges that we still face as a nation. The fact is, in too many parts of this country, a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of color. Some of this is the result of the legacy of racial discrimination in this country.

An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.

The precepts of the law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, and to give everyone else his due.

We win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party.

I’m tired. I’m tired of feeling rejected by the American people. I’m tired of waking up in the middle of the night worrying about the war.

Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.

The place of justice is a hallowed place.

Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due.

Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.

Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.

For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.

In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.

The highest reach of injustice is to be deemed just when you are not.

I grew up with J. Edgar Hoover. He was the G-man, a hero to everybody, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was the big, feared organization. He was ahead of his time as far as building up forensic evidence and fingerprinting. But he took down a lot of innocent people, too.

The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.

First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? Second, how do we make technology work for us, and not against us – especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change? Third, how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?

One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it.

Many people when they fall in love look for a little haven of refuge from the world, where they can be sure of being admired when they are not admirable, and praised when they are not praiseworthy.

Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.

I hope that a move toward clemency with Judge Afiuni would be a step towards the importance of maintaining a properly functioning justice system.

Children need to get a high-quality education, avoid violence and the criminal-justice system, and gain jobs. But they deserve more. We want them to learn not only reading and math but fairness, caring, self-respect, family commitment, and civic duty.

Here’s what I believe, I think the FBI is the premier law enforcement agency in the history of the world but i think there was some bad apples over there.

Men and women aren’t the same. And they won’t be the same. That doesn’t mean that they can’t be treated fairly.

Nothing can make injustice just but mercy.

Life isn’t fair, but God is.

People often speak of God being even-handed. God is not even-handed. God is biased, in favor of the weak, of the despised.