There's reason good, that you good laws should make: Men's manners ne'er were viler, for your sake.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Laws should improve behavior because current manners are poor.
- In plain terms
- Make good laws since people are behaving badly.
- What can you take from it?
- Use laws to correct bad behavior.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can laws change behavior?
- Should laws focus on manners?
Another view
Laws cannot fix all moral failings.
More from Ben Jonson
If all you boast of your great art be true; Sure, willing poverty lives most in you.
Permalink to quote #19 He that fears death, or mourns it, in the just, Shows of the resurrection little trust.
Permalink to quote #21 Pray thee, take care, that tak'st my book in hand, To read it well: that is, to understand.
Permalink to quote #18
Related quotes
If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, …
Rick SantorumRick Santorum quote #5 'The internet has no government, no constitution, no laws, no rights, no police, no courts. Don't talk about fairness or innocence, and don't talk about what s…
Paul VixiePaul Vixie quote #5 On a very rough-and-ready basis we might define an eccentric as a man who is a law unto himself, and a crank as one who, having determined what the law is, ins…
Louis KronenbergerLouis Kronenberger quote #1