Trying to source a quote about justice

August 29, 2014 5:38 PM

Trying to source a quote - my father always told me something like, "If the innocent don't stand up for their rights the job is left to the guilty" or something like that. Who was he paraphrasing?

Google has failed me. He was explaining why I should never talk to a cop without a lawyer. About why I should stand up for my civil rights even if I was innocent.

posted by Baby_Balrog to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

was it edmund burke, essentially, "evil will prevail if good men do nothing."?
posted by bruce at 7:25 PM on August 29, 2014

Kind of the same message (but I guess backward): Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.
posted by latkes at 9:44 PM on August 29, 2014

Response by poster: Hell, maybe it was just my dad who said it.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:55 AM on August 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Vaguely related is the aphorism, "Hard cases make bad law."

When the guilty or disreputable stand up for their rights, well ... they may have some trouble getting the court's sympathy and the court may make some "bad law" in order to avoid finding in their favor. Not so, for a more sympathetic defendant.
posted by JimN2TAW at 4:25 PM on August 30, 2014

Best answer: Not sure if this is really a Ben Franklin quote, but it has the same spirit as what you're talking about:

“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
― Benjamin Franklin
posted by eleanna at 12:13 PM on August 31, 2014 [1 favorite]