Any law that takes hold of a man's daily life cannot prevail in a community, unless the vast majority of the community are actively in favor of it. The laws that are the most operative are the laws which protect life.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Laws only succeed if the majority supports them, especially those protecting life.
- In plain terms
- Laws need public support to work.
- What can you take from it?
- Public consensus is key to effective law.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do laws gain legitimacy?
Another view
Minority rights might be overlooked by majority rule.
More from Henry Ward Beecher
Humor is, however, nearer right than any emotion we have. Humor is the atmosphere in which grace most flourishes.
Permalink to quote #4 The one great poem of New England is her Sunday.
Permalink to quote #6 The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing…
Permalink to quote #3
Related quotes
Is there anything in which the people of this age and country differ more from those of other lands and former times than in this - their ability to preserve o…
Rutherford B. HayesRutherford B. Hayes quote #15 Our power is not so much in us as through us.
Harry Emerson FosdickHarry Emerson Fosdick quote #20 Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all s…
Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud quote #38