The law is reason, free from passion. – Aristotle

He who goes to law for a sheep loses his cow. – Proverb

I have enforced the law against killing certain animals and many others, but the greatest progress of righteousness among men comes from the exhortation in favor of non-injury to life and abstention from killing living beings. – Asoka

Written laws are like spiders webs; they will catch, it is true, the weak and the poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful. – Anacharsis