11 Quotes & Sayings By Learned Hand

Learned Hand, the former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a long-time faculty member at Harvard Law School, was born March 26, 1872, in New York City. He studied at Columbia College and Columbia Law School and practiced law in New York City before taking his first academic position as professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 1902 to 1910. Returning to private practice, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of New Jersey (1913-1928) and then to the Supreme Court of the United States (1928-1932) Read more

He also served as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (1920-21), as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1932-1943), and as Chairman of the Federal Power Commission (1942-45). In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated him as Chief Judge of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

1
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias. Learned Hand
2
What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest. Learned Hand
3
We accept the verdict of the past until the need for change cries out loudly enough to force upon us a choice between the comforts of further inertia and the irksomeness of action. Learned Hand
4
The art of publicity is a black art. Learned Hand
5
The aim of law is the maximum gratification of the nervous system of man. Learned Hand
6
The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right. Learned Hand
7
We shall succeed only so far as we continue that most distasteful of all activity the intolerable labour of thought. Learned Hand
8
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it. Learned Hand
9
It lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it. While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it. Learned Hand
10
No doubt one may quote history to support any cause, as the devil quotes scripture. Learned Hand