--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: justice itself is a chimera, a delusion…" description: "\"justice itself is a chimera, a delusion. Justice is not a flat yardstick, applied in equal measure to an equal situation.\" — Carson McCullers" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/carson-mccullers-1694_chimera_justice-itself-is-a-chimera-a-delusion-j_2248814.png" --- # justice itself is a chimera, a delusion. Justice is not a… ![“justice itself is a chimera, a delusion. Justice is not a flat yardstick, applied in equal measure to an equal situation.” quote by Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/carson-mccullers-1694_chimera_justice-itself-is-a-chimera-a-delusion-j_2248814.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/carson-mccullers-1694_chimera_justice-itself-is-a-chimera-a-delusion-j_2248814.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ce/carson-mccullers-1694_chimera_justice-itself-is-a-chimera-a-delusion-j_2248814.png) > “justice itself is a chimera, a delusion. Justice is not a flat yardstick, applied in equal measure to an equal situation.” [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Justice cannot be measured by a single standard; it must consider context and nuance. **In simple terms:** Justice is complex, not one‑size‑fits‑all. Key Takeaway Consider context in fairness. Themes justice ethics relativism Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - legal judgments - policy making - conflict resolution Key Concepts fairness moral philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance equality with equity? - When is a universal rule insufficient? A Different Perspective Equal treatment may ignore individual circumstances. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Chimera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chimera/) [Delusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delusion/) [Justice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/justice/) ## Related quotes > [Blacks as a group will never be equal while they have this situation going on, where the vast majority of children do not have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-wax/blacks-as-a-group-will-never-be-equal-while-they-have-this-situation/) [Amy Wax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-wax/) > [Just as the blurring between childhood and adulthood has produced the kidult, so the stretching of middle into old age has fostered another peculiar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/just-as-the-blurring-between-childhood-and-adulthood-has-produced-the/) [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) > [I believed that I was approaching the end of my days without having tasted to the full any of the pleasures for which my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/i-believed-that-i-was-approaching-the-end-of-my-days-without-having/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [In whatever system where the weight attached to the wheel should be the cause of motion of the wheel, without any doubt the center…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/in-whatever-system-where-the-weight-attached-to-the-wheel-should-be/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [It's not a matter of emancipating truth from every system of power (which would be a chimera, for truth is already power) but of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/it-s-not-a-matter-of-emancipating-truth-from-every-system-of-power/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [The Void is not being, but not being cannot be, ergo the Void cannot be. The reasoning was sound, because it denied the Void…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/the-void-is-not-being-but-not-being-cannot-be-ergo-the-void-cannot-be/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [The soul languishing in obscurity contracts a kind of rust, or abandons itself to the chimera of presumption; for it is natural for it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quintilian/the-soul-languishing-in-obscurity-contracts-a-kind-of-rust-or/) [Quintilian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quintilian/) > [For the first rate poet, nothing short of a Queen or a Chimera is adequate for the powers of his praise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wyndham-lewis/for-the-first-rate-poet-nothing-short-of-a-queen-or-a-chimera-is/) [Wyndham Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wyndham-lewis/) > [Everyone knows that (1) happiness is the goal of life, and (2) happiness is a chimera.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/everyone-knows-that-1-happiness-is-the-goal-of-life-and-2-happiness/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [“Good Samaritans: Truth, justice and the American way–for them it wasn't only a comic book code; it was a way of life. it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-thurman/good-samaritans-truth-justice-and-the-american-way-for-them-it-wasn-t/) [Rob Thurman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-thurman/) > [Language is the only chimera whose illusory power is endless, the inexhaustibility which keeps life from being impoverished. Let men learn to serve language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/language-is-the-only-chimera-whose-illusory-power-is-endless-the/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [Without democracy freedom is a chimera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/without-democracy-freedom-is-a-chimera/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Human history, like all great movements, was cyclical, and returned to the point of beginning. The idea of indefinite progress in a right line…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-bellamy/human-history-like-all-great-movements-was-cyclical-and-returned-to/) [Edward Bellamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-bellamy/) > [Since there must be chimeras, why is not perfection the chimera of all men?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-swetchine/since-there-must-be-chimeras-why-is-not-perfection-the-chimera-of-all/) [Sophie Swetchine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-swetchine/) > [Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922 A memory of yesterday's pleasures, a fear of tomorrow's dangers, a straw under my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/commemoration-of-pandita-mary-ramabai-translator-of-the-scriptures/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) ## More by Carson McCullers > [“Because things accumulate around your name," said Berenice. "You have a name and one thing after another happens to you, and you behave in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/because-things-accumulate-around-your-name-said-berenice-you-have-a/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [It was like she was cheated. Only nobody had cheated her. So there was nobody to take it out on. However, just the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/it-was-like-she-was-cheated-only-nobody-had-cheated-her-so-there-was/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [“Love is a joint experience between two persons—but the fact that it is a joint experience does not mean that it is a similar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/love-is-a-joint-experience-between-two-persons-but-the-fact-that-it/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [The thinking mind is best controlled by the imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/the-thinking-mind-is-best-controlled-by-the-imagination/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [“He was like a man who had served a term in prison or had been to Harvard College or had left for a long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/he-was-like-a-man-who-had-served-a-term-in-prison-or-had-been-to/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [Comparing the Brooklyn that I know with Manhattan is like comparing a comfortable and complacent duenna to her more brilliant and neurotic sister.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/comparing-the-brooklyn-that-i-know-with-manhattan-is-like-comparing-a/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [“Son, do you know how love should be begun?" The boy sat small and listening and still. Slowly he shook his head. The old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/son-do-you-know-how-love-should-be-begun-the-boy-sat-small-and/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [The most fatal thing a man can do is try to stand alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/the-most-fatal-thing-a-man-can-do-is-try-to-stand-alone/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [The dimensions of a work of art are seldom realized by the author until the work is accomplished. It is like a flowering dream.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/the-dimensions-of-a-work-of-art-are-seldom-realized-by-the-author/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [Now hoppin'-john was F. Jasmine's very favorite food. She had always warned them to wave a plate of rice and peas before her nose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/now-hoppin-john-was-f-jasmine-s-very-favorite-food-she-had-always/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/there-s-nothing-that-makes-you-so-aware-of-the-improvisation-of-human/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [“Maybe when people longed for a thing that bad the longing made them trust in anything that might give it to them . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/maybe-when-people-longed-for-a-thing-that-bad-the-longing-made-them/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [“But the music did not come again. The tune was left broken, unfinished. And the drawn tightness she could no longer stand. She felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/but-the-music-did-not-come-again-the-tune-was-left-broken-unfinished/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [“...we must remember that we all make the things of this earth of value because of labor.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/we-must-remember-that-we-all-make-the-things-of-this-earth-of-value/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [I have more to say than Hemingway, and God knows, I say it better than Faulkner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/i-have-more-to-say-than-hemingway-and-god-knows-i-say-it-better-than/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) [Explore all 211 Carson McCullers quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) ## More Chimera quotes > [Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922 A memory of yesterday's pleasures, a fear of tomorrow's dangers, a straw under my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/commemoration-of-pandita-mary-ramabai-translator-of-the-scriptures/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Since there must be chimeras, why is not perfection the chimera of all men?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-swetchine/since-there-must-be-chimeras-why-is-not-perfection-the-chimera-of-all/) [Sophie Swetchine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-swetchine/) > [Human history, like all great movements, was cyclical, and returned to the point of beginning. The idea of indefinite progress in a right line…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-bellamy/human-history-like-all-great-movements-was-cyclical-and-returned-to/) [Edward Bellamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-bellamy/) > [Without democracy freedom is a chimera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/without-democracy-freedom-is-a-chimera/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Language is the only chimera whose illusory power is endless, the inexhaustibility which keeps life from being impoverished. Let men learn to serve language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-kraus/language-is-the-only-chimera-whose-illusory-power-is-endless-the/) [Karl Kraus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-kraus/) > [“Good Samaritans: Truth, justice and the American way–for them it wasn't only a comic book code; it was a way of life. it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-thurman/good-samaritans-truth-justice-and-the-american-way-for-them-it-wasn-t/) [Rob Thurman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-thurman/) > [Everyone knows that (1) happiness is the goal of life, and (2) happiness is a chimera.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/everyone-knows-that-1-happiness-is-the-goal-of-life-and-2-happiness/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [For the first rate poet, nothing short of a Queen or a Chimera is adequate for the powers of his praise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wyndham-lewis/for-the-first-rate-poet-nothing-short-of-a-queen-or-a-chimera-is/) [Wyndham Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wyndham-lewis/) > [The soul languishing in obscurity contracts a kind of rust, or abandons itself to the chimera of presumption; for it is natural for it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quintilian/the-soul-languishing-in-obscurity-contracts-a-kind-of-rust-or/) [Quintilian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quintilian/) > [The Void is not being, but not being cannot be, ergo the Void cannot be. The reasoning was sound, because it denied the Void…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/the-void-is-not-being-but-not-being-cannot-be-ergo-the-void-cannot-be/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [It's not a matter of emancipating truth from every system of power (which would be a chimera, for truth is already power) but of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/it-s-not-a-matter-of-emancipating-truth-from-every-system-of-power/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [In whatever system where the weight attached to the wheel should be the cause of motion of the wheel, without any doubt the center…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/in-whatever-system-where-the-weight-attached-to-the-wheel-should-be/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [I believed that I was approaching the end of my days without having tasted to the full any of the pleasures for which my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/i-believed-that-i-was-approaching-the-end-of-my-days-without-having/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [Just as the blurring between childhood and adulthood has produced the kidult, so the stretching of middle into old age has fostered another peculiar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/just-as-the-blurring-between-childhood-and-adulthood-has-produced-the/) [Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/) > [Conservatives have long argued, correctly, that 'fine-tuning' the economy is a chimera, but that argument seems to have disappeared from the conservative handbook.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-tabarrok/conservatives-have-long-argued-correctly-that-fine-tuning-the-economy/) [Alex Tabarrok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-tabarrok/) [Browse all 59 Chimera quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chimera/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "justice itself is a chimera, a delusion. 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