--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The criminal law is no use to decent…" description: "\"The criminal law is no use to decent people.\" — George Bernard Shaw" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/519/george-bernard-shaw-68_criminal_the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-peo_1363204.png" --- # The criminal law is no use to decent people. ![“The criminal law is no use to decent people.” quote by George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/519/george-bernard-shaw-68_criminal_the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-peo_1363204.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/519/george-bernard-shaw-68_criminal_the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-peo_1363204.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/519/george-bernard-shaw-68_criminal_the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-peo_1363204.png) > “The criminal law is no use to decent people.” [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Law is designed for societal order, not for individuals of moral character; decent people find it irrelevant. **In simple terms:** Law may not serve morally good people. Key Takeaway Seek justice beyond legal frameworks. Themes morality law society Mood critical thought‑provoking Type philosophical social commentary When to use this quote - civil rights activism - ethical dilemmas - legal reform Key Concepts ethical theory justice Questions to Reflect On - Do laws always reflect morality? - When should personal ethics override legal obligations? A Different Perspective Legal systems can be limited in addressing moral nuances. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Criminal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criminal/) [Criminal law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criminal-law/) [Criminals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criminals/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) ## Related quotes > [Don't try to be fancy. Shoot for the center of mass. The world is full of decent people. Criminals we can do without.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-cooper/don-t-try-to-be-fancy-shoot-for-the-center-of-mass-the-world-is-full/) [Jeff Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-cooper/) > [My dad once said that in criminal law you see terrible people on their best behavior; in family law you see great people on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-wasser/my-dad-once-said-that-in-criminal-law-you-see-terrible-people-on/) [Laura Wasser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-wasser/) > [Procrastination is a sin of lawyers, trial judges, reporters, appellate judges, in brief, everyone connected with the machinery of criminal law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/macklin-fleming/procrastination-is-a-sin-of-lawyers-trial-judges-reporters-appellate/) Macklin Fleming > [I was interested in getting courtroom experience. When I was a young lawyer, the only way I could get real courtroom experience was in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-shapiro/i-was-interested-in-getting-courtroom-experience-when-i-was-a-young/) [Robert Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-shapiro/) > [I used to practice criminal law, and it was so sexist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shari-redstone/i-used-to-practice-criminal-law-and-it-was-so-sexist/) [Shari Redstone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shari-redstone/) > [It's funny that they've called homosexuality a crime... At this rate, everyone will be a criminal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kangana-ranaut/it-s-funny-that-they-ve-called-homosexuality-a-crime-at-this-rate/) [Kangana Ranaut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kangana-ranaut/) > [Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kennedy/every-society-gets-the-kind-of-criminal-it-deserves/) [Robert Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kennedy/) > [Criminal law has to do with relations between the misbehaving individual and his government...Criminal law establishes rules of conduct; their breach, if prosecuted and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-m-friedman/criminal-law-has-to-do-with-relations-between-the-misbehaving/) Lawrence M. Friedman > [I love criminal law. It must be the Dostoyevskian streak in me. 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Being of dramatic bent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luanne-rice/i-was-married-to-a-law-student-and-i-used-to-attend-classes-with-him/) [Luanne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luanne-rice/) > [I wanted to be a prosecutor - a criminal lawyer - because there's nowhere where the stakes are higher, where you can wake up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/preet-bharara/i-wanted-to-be-a-prosecutor-a-criminal-lawyer-because-there-s-nowhere/) [Preet Bharara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/preet-bharara/) > [I threw my whole life and lived my life in a certain way to make sure that I would never violate any law.. certainly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-lay/i-threw-my-whole-life-and-lived-my-life-in-a-certain-way-to-make-sure/) [Kenneth Lay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-lay/) > [Islam has a total organization of life that is completely different from ours; it embraces simply everything,...There is a very marked subordination of woman…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-benedict-xvi/islam-has-a-total-organization-of-life-that-is-completely-different/) [Pope Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-benedict-xvi/) > [You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/you-find-as-you-look-around-the-world-that-every-single-bit-of/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons and gendarmes at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/sometimes-the-law-defends-plunder-and-participates-in-it-sometimes/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) ## More by George Bernard Shaw > [I love little children too but I don't cut off their heads and stick them in vases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/i-love-little-children-too-but-i-don-t-cut-off-their-heads-and-stick/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Blasphemy and sedition (meaning the truth about Church and State).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/blasphemy-and-sedition-meaning-the-truth-about-church-and-state/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In the arts of life, man invents nothing; but in the arts of death he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and machinery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/in-the-arts-of-life-man-invents-nothing-but-in-the-arts-of-death-he/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [“My religious convictions and scientific views cannot at present be more specifically defined than as those of a believer in creative evolution. I desire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/my-religious-convictions-and-scientific-views-cannot-at-present-be/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/what-a-man-believes-may-be-ascertained-not-from-his-creed-but-from/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [You are my inspiration and my folly. You are my light across the sea, my million nameless joys, and my day's wage. You are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/you-are-my-inspiration-and-my-folly-you-are-my-light-across-the-sea/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Men have to do some awfully mean things to keep up their respectability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/men-have-to-do-some-awfully-mean-things-to-keep-up-their/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The schoolmaster is the person who takes the children off the parents' hands for a consideration. That is to say, he establishes a child…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-schoolmaster-is-the-person-who-takes-the-children-off-the-parents/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/as-long-as-i-have-a-want-i-have-a-reason-for-living-satisfaction-is/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The camera can represent flesh so superbly that, if I dared, I would never photograph a figure without asking that figure to take its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-camera-can-represent-flesh-so-superbly-that-if-i-dared-i-would/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [A man who is not a communist at the age of twenty is a fool. Any man who is still communist at the age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/a-man-who-is-not-a-communist-at-the-age-of-twenty-is-a-fool-any-man/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [But to admire a strong person and to live under that strong person’s thumb are two different things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/but-to-admire-a-strong-person-and-to-live-under-that-strong-person-s/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Socialism is the same as Communism, only better English.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/socialism-is-the-same-as-communism-only-better-english/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The person who is ignorant enough to believe that his nourishment depends on meat is in a horrible dilemma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-person-who-is-ignorant-enough-to-believe-that-his-nourishment/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In the arts of peace Man is a bungler.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/in-the-arts-of-peace-man-is-a-bungler/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) [Explore all 1,640 George Bernard Shaw quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## More Criminal quotes > [Too much virtue can be criminal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-racine/too-much-virtue-can-be-criminal/) [Jean Racine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-racine/) > [I was married to a law student, and I used to attend classes with him at Georgetown University Law Center. 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A jailer is imprisoned — in the very same prison — by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/a-prisoner-is-imprisoned-by-the-crime-that-he-has-committed-a-jailer/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [No one prepares you at 7 years of age to have your father tell you he is a criminal - you are still a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-pablo-escobar/no-one-prepares-you-at-7-years-of-age-to-have-your-father-tell-you-he/) [Juan Pablo Escobar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-pablo-escobar/) > [“Despite what you might think, NORMAL people do NOT cause problems, misfortunes, conflicts, distress or accidents. And when they do, they CAN apologize and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-sacredfire/despite-what-you-might-think-normal-people-do-not-cause-problems/) [Robin Sacredfire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-sacredfire/) > [I'm not working-class: I come from the criminal classes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-o-toole/i-m-not-working-class-i-come-from-the-criminal-classes/) [Peter O'Toole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-o-toole/) > [Any new legal measures, or cooperative arrangements between government and companies meant to keep people from organizing violence or criminal actions, must not be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-mackinnon/any-new-legal-measures-or-cooperative-arrangements-between-government/) [Rebecca MacKinnon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-mackinnon/) > [The duty of the grand jury is to separate fact from fiction, after a full and impartial examination of all the evidence involved, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-p-mcculloch/the-duty-of-the-grand-jury-is-to-separate-fact-from-fiction-after-a/) [Robert P. 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Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-a-ross/) > [A military without political training is a potential criminal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sankara/a-military-without-political-training-is-a-potential-criminal/) [Thomas Sankara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sankara/) > [Whether or not we can save Lake Michigan, whether or not we can avoid a breakdown in our criminal justice system are more important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-scott/whether-or-not-we-can-save-lake-michigan-whether-or-not-we-can-avoid/) [Bill Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-scott/) > [“A man is held to be criminal,sometimes, by the great ones of the earth,not because he has committed a crime himself but because he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandre-dumas/a-man-is-held-to-be-criminal-sometimes-by-the-great-ones-of-the-earth/) [Alexandre Dumas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandre-dumas/) > [“I don’t care what your excuse is, I don’t care what you think God told you to do, if you are in the business…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-grant/i-don-t-care-what-your-excuse-is-i-don-t-care-what-you-think-god-told/) [Michael Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-grant/) > [“Stay away from that guy. He looks like a career criminal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-hood/stay-away-from-that-guy-he-looks-like-a-career-criminal/) [Holly Hood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-hood/) [Browse all 405 Criminal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criminal/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The criminal law is no use to decent people.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Bernard Shaw" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-people/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Criminal" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-people/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/519/george-bernard-shaw-68_criminal_the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-peo_1363204.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/519/george-bernard-shaw-68_criminal_the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-peo_1363204.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/519/george-bernard-shaw-68_criminal_the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-peo_1363204.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The criminal law is no use to decent people.” — George Bernard Shaw", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "George Bernard Shaw", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The criminal law is no use...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-people/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-criminal-law-is-no-use-to-decent-people/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```