The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. – Anatole France, The Red Lily, 1894

In keeping people straight, principle is not as powerful as a policeman. – Abel Hermant, Le Bourgeois, 1906

Men are too unstable to be just; they are crabbed because they have not passed water at the usual time, or testy because they have not been stroked or praised. – Edward Dahlberg, The Sorrows of Priapus, 1957