„As a lawyer I am before and above all things for the supremacy of law.“

„Lawyer – One skilled in the circumvention of the law.“

—  Ambrose Bierce American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist 1842 - 1914

„The negative principle that no law is free law, is not much known except among lawyers.“

—  Abraham Lincoln 16th President of the United States 1809 - 1865

1850s, Speech at Peoria, Illinois (1854)

„I'm a lawyer. I make lawyers for a living. I believe in the law. I believe in the law of copyright. Indeed, I have devoted my life to working in law, not because there are big bucks at the end but because there are ideals at the end that I would love to live.
Yet much of this book has been a criticism of lawyers, or the role lawyers have played in this debate. The law speaks to ideals, but it is my view that our profession has become too attuned to the client. And in a world where the rich clients have one strong view, the unwillingness of the profession to question or counter that one strong view queers the law.
The evidence of this bending is compelling. I'm attacked as a "radical" by many within the profession, yet the positions that I am advocating are precisely the positions of some of the most moderate and significant figures in the history of this branch of the law.“

—  Lawrence Lessig, livro Cultura Livre

Free Culture (2004)

„Lawyers are the only persons in whom ignorance of the law is not punished.“

—  Jeremy Bentham British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer 1748 - 1832

Attributed to Bentham in The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations‎ (1949) by Evan Esar, p. 29; no earlier sources for this have been located.
Disputed

„…a clever Toronto lawyer was deep into a technical argument before the Supreme Court. His position was dependent upon a close reading of the legal text and turned on the letter of the law. Suddenly the chief justice, Beverley McLachlin, leaned forward and asked the counsel if his argument also worked in French. After all, the law is the law in both languages and a loophole in one tends to evaporate in the other. Only an argument of substance stands up. The lawyer had no idea what to reply.“

—  John Ralston Saul Canadian author and essayist 1947

Fonte: A Fair Country (2008), p. 128

„Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of its trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse for impossibility, for it thinks all things are lawful for itself and all things are possible“

—  Thomas à Kempis German canon regular 1380 - 1471

„If the Laws could speak for themselves, they would complain of the Lawyers in the first Place.“

—  George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax English politician 1633 - 1695

Of Laws.
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections (1750), Political Thoughts and Reflections

„He studied law, but unlike many Indian leaders who rose to political power as practicing lawyers, he became known not as a lawyer but as a politician.“

—  Charan Singh prime minister of India 1902 - 1987

Fonte: Trysts with Democracy: Political Practice in South Asia, p. 80

„Right" he said "Let's get one thing clear. I am not here to teach you law-I am here to teach you loopholes.“

—  Catherine Jinks, livro Evil Genius

Fonte: Evil Genius

„I am bound to administer the law here according to the best construction that I can put upon the intent and meaning of the authorities applicable to the cases before me.“

—  Henry Bickersteth, 1st Baron Langdale British lawyer 1783 - 1851

Carpmael v. Powis (1845), 9 Beav. 19.
Quote

„[I am] A Subject and born to obey laws…The trial of all laws only consisteth in honest and probable witness.“

—  Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex English statesman and chief minister to King Henry VIII of England 1485 - 1540

Merriman, ii. p. 223.

„The real crime of white supremacy was not that it put up statues, or even that it made speeches, but that it attacked citizens and passed laws.“

—  Allen C. Guelzo American historian 1953

2010s, Free Speech and Its Present Crisis (2018)

„The ultimate goal of laws is to educate the society to abide by the law and law by itself can only address the symptoms, but education can reach deep into our heart, which is far more effective to set the society on the right course. So, education is the fundamental solution. Although I am an educator, I am marching toward the same goal as a lawyer and there is no need to feel disappointed.“

—  Hung Hsiu-chu Taiwanese politician 1948

Attributed in: " Vice President http://www.ly.gov.tw/en/02_chief/chiefBiography.action?id=2" in The Legislative Yuan of Republic of China.

„I am sure from my experience of juries that, in a criminal case especially, they will obey the law as declared by the Judge; they will take the law from the Judge, whether they like it or do not like it, and apply it honestly to the facts before them.“

—  John Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge British lawyer, judge and Liberal politician 1820 - 1894

1 Cababe & Ellis' Q. B. D. Rep. 133.
Reg. v. Ramsey (1883)

„These are the laws that truly declare the eternal equality of all men, of all races, before the man-made laws of our land“

—  Dwight D. Eisenhower American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961) 1890 - 1969

1950s, Address at the Philadelphia Convention Hall (1956)
Contexto: So it is that the laws most binding us as a people are laws of the spirit—proclaimed in church and synagogue and mosque. These are the laws that truly declare the eternal equality of all men, of all races, before the man-made laws of our land. And we are profoundly aware that—in the world—we can claim the trust of hundreds of millions of people, across Africa and Asia—only as we ourselves hold high the banner of justice for all.

„Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.“

—  Paul of Tarsus, livro Epistle to the Romans

Romans 3:19-31
Epistle to the Romans
Contexto: Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

„I am ashamed the law is such an ass.“

—  George Chapman English dramatist, poet, and translator 1559 - 1634

Revenge for Honour, Act III, scene ii.
Disputed

„Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!“

—  Frank Hague Mayor of Jersey City 1876 - 1956

Speech on city government to the Emory Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City (10 November 1937), quoted in New York Times. (11 November 1937), p. 1, responding to the director of the Board of Education's special service bureau, upon being told that the law required two young delinquents to go to school rather than work, as they would have preferred.

„I am a firm believer that any legitimate government has to be based on rule of law and a recognition that all people are equal under the law.“

—  Barack Obama 44th President of the United States of America 1961

Remarks by President Obama and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma in Joint Press Conference at Aung San Suu Kyi Residence in Rangoon, Burma on November 14, 2014 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/14/remarks-president-obama-and-daw-aung-san-suu-kyi-burma-joint-press-confe
2014