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Law is reason without desire.
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“Law is reason without desire.”

Aristotle

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Source
Politics: A Treatise on Government
Date
4th century BCE
English wording
William Ellis — Translator · from Ancient Greek
Meaning

Meaning of “Law is reason without desire.”

Good law is idealized as judgment governed by reason rather than by the changing appetites or personal passions of an individual ruler.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Politics: A Treatise on Government, Book III, Chapter XVI, William Ellis translation; represented through the 1912 Dent witness / Project Gutenberg #6762. In comparing rule by a person with rule by law, Aristotle says that passion can affect even the best rulers and concludes that law is reason without desire.

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DecisionDeepLeadershipMindResponsibilitySelf-Control Quotes About Restraint & JudgmentShortThinking Quotes About Reasoning, Reflection & JudgmentThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite ReflectionWisdom Quotes About Judgment & Living WellJusticePoliticsReason
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The thinker has to decide, to choose; and there is always a risk.
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“The thinker has to decide, to choose; and there is always a risk.”

John Dewey · How We Think · 1910
Meaning & context

Choosing among plausible interpretations necessarily involves uncertainty, so sound thinking requires a cautious selection that remains open to confirmation or correction by later events.

Source details

How We Think (1910), Chapter VIII, “Judgment: The Interpretation of Facts,” section 1, printed page 106, Project Gutenberg #37423. Dewey says the thinker must choose among candidate meanings for a perplexing situation and therefore accepts risk; the prudent thinker selects warily and remains answerable to later confirmation or frustration. This is part of Dewey’s historical educational/logical account of reflective judgment, not a modern decision-science finding.

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The judgment when formed is a decision; it closes (or concludes) the question at issue.
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“The judgment when formed is a decision; it closes (or concludes) the question at issue.”

John Dewey · How We Think · 1910
Meaning & context

Reflective judgment is not endless suspension: Dewey describes it as the point at which a particular uncertainty is concluded in a way that can also inform later judgments.

Source details

How We Think (1910), Chapter VIII, “Judgment: The Interpretation of Facts,” section 1, printed page 107, Project Gutenberg #37423. Dewey identifies a formed judgment as a decision that closes the issue at hand and may help establish a method for analogous later cases. The statement belongs to his early-twentieth-century theory of reflective judgment rather than current clinical, neuroscientific or experimentally settled cognitive science.

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All warfare is based on deception.
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“All warfare is based on deception.”

Sun Tzu · The Art of War — Laying Plans · c. 5th century BCE
Meaning & context

Strategy depends partly on managing what an opponent believes about intentions, strength, timing, and position rather than revealing every fact directly.

Source details

The Art of War, Chapter I 'Laying Plans,' section 18, Lionel Giles translation (1910), original scan leaf 62. 'All warfare is based on deception' begins Giles's section 18 before the examples of seeming unable, inactive, near or far. This remains translation-mediated ancient military strategy, not generic business, relationship or current operational advice.

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A hasty judgement is a first step to a recantation.
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“A hasty judgement is a first step to a recantation.”

Publilius Syrus · The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus · 1856 translation
Meaning & context

Rushing to a conclusion increases the chance that later evidence will force an embarrassing or costly reversal.

Source details

The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, maxim 8, in Darius Lyman’s 1856 English rendering; maxim order can vary across editions.

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Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.
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“Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.”

Charles Dickens · Great Expectations · 1861
Voice: Fictional character · Mr. Jaggers
Meaning & context

Appearances are weak evidence; better judgment comes from examining what can actually be supported.

Source details

Great Expectations (1861), global Chapter XL / Volume III Chapter I in the Chapman & Hall three-volume first book edition. Mr. Jaggers tells Pip “Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule” while insisting that he has stayed to the strict line of fact about Pip’s benefactor. Verified against the scan-backed Wikisource Volume III Chapter I transcription and cross-checked with Project Gutenberg #1400. This remains fictional legal dialogue and character method rather than a modern legal or scientific standard.

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