--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Laws and customs may be creative of vice…" description: "\"Laws and customs may be creative of vice; and should be therefore perpetually under process of observation and correction: but laws and customs cannot ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fe/harriet-martineau-6736_character_laws-and-customs-may-be-creative-of-vice_1563145.png" --- # Laws and customs may be creative of vice; and should be… ![“Laws and customs may be creative of vice; and should be therefore perpetually under process of observation and correction: but laws and customs cannot be creative of virtue: they may encourage and help to preserve it; but they cannot originate it.” quote by Harriet Martineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fe/harriet-martineau-6736_character_laws-and-customs-may-be-creative-of-vice_1563145.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fe/harriet-martineau-6736_character_laws-and-customs-may-be-creative-of-vice_1563145.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fe/harriet-martineau-6736_character_laws-and-customs-may-be-creative-of-vice_1563145.png) > “Laws and customs may be creative of vice; and should be therefore perpetually under process of observation and correction: but laws and customs cannot be creative of virtue: they may encourage and help to preserve it; but they cannot originate it.” [Harriet Martineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-martineau/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Laws shape behavior but cannot generate virtue; they must be constantly examined and refined. **In simple terms:** Laws guide but don’t create virtue. Key Takeaway Continuously review and improve institutions. Themes law ethics society governance Mood critical reflective Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - policy making - education reform - community leadership Key Concepts virtue social control institutional critique Questions to Reflect On - How can institutions nurture virtue? - What mechanisms ensure laws stay just? A Different Perspective Laws alone cannot foster moral character. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Creative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Customs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/customs/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Observation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/observation/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) ## Related quotes > [The Foreign Office works hard to remind people of local laws and customs as often they can be very different to British law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lidington/the-foreign-office-works-hard-to-remind-people-of-local-laws-and/) [David Lidington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lidington/) > [I think a platform such as YouTube has to respect local laws and customs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chad-hurley/i-think-a-platform-such-as-youtube-has-to-respect-local-laws-and/) [Chad Hurley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chad-hurley/) > [There aren't any looks or customs I wish would come back. Today almost anything goes. Culture constantly devours the past so there's not much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graydon-carter/there-aren-t-any-looks-or-customs-i-wish-would-come-back-today-almost/) [Graydon Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graydon-carter/) > [One of the Canadian customs guards got suspicious and said 'Haven't you been coming and going across the border a lot lately?' I finally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-jackman/one-of-the-canadian-customs-guards-got-suspicious-and-said-haven-t/) [Hugh Jackman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-jackman/) > [It is necessary to obey a Pope in all things as long as he does not go against the universal customs of the Church,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-innocent-iii/it-is-necessary-to-obey-a-pope-in-all-things-as-long-as-he-does-not/) [Pope Innocent III](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-innocent-iii/) > [He that would travel for the entertainment of others, should remember that the great object of remark is human life. Every nation has something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/he-that-would-travel-for-the-entertainment-of-others-should-remember/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/society-everywhere-is-in-conspiracy-against-the-manhood-of-every-one/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities of higher education, for the full development of her faculties, forces of mind and body;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-cady-stanton/the-strongest-reason-for-giving-woman-all-the-opportunities-of-higher/) [Elizabeth Cady Stanton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-cady-stanton/) > [There will be no lasting peace either in the heart of individuals or in social customs until death is outlawed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/there-will-be-no-lasting-peace-either-in-the-heart-of-individuals-or/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [To me the female principle is, or at least historically has been, basically anarchic. It values order without constraint, rule by custom not by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/to-me-the-female-principle-is-or-at-least-historically-has-been/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Since custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all means endeavor to obtain good customs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/since-custom-is-the-principal-magistrate-of-man-s-life-let-men-by-all/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [Often a quite assified remark becomes sanctified by use and petrified by custom; it is then a permanency, its term of activity a geologic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/often-a-quite-assified-remark-becomes-sanctified-by-use-and-petrified/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [In reality no food is valued solely for its nutritive power and no garment or house solely for the protection it affords against cold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/in-reality-no-food-is-valued-solely-for-its-nutritive-power-and-no/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [What is philosophy but a continual battle against custom?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/what-is-philosophy-but-a-continual-battle-against-custom/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Be neither too early in the fashion, nor too long out of it, nor too precisely in it; what custom hath civilized is become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/be-neither-too-early-in-the-fashion-nor-too-long-out-of-it-nor-too/) [Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/) ## More by Harriet Martineau > [There have been few things in my life which have had a more genial effect on my mind than the possession of a piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-martineau/there-have-been-few-things-in-my-life-which-have-had-a-more-genial/) [Harriet Martineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-martineau/) > [it is a testament to the strength and purity of the democratic sentiment in the country, that the republic has not been overthrown by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-martineau/it-is-a-testament-to-the-strength-and-purity-of-the-democratic/) [Harriet Martineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-martineau/) > [School is no place of education for any children whatever till their minds are well put in action. This is the work which has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-martineau/school-is-no-place-of-education-for-any-children-whatever-till-their/) [Harriet Martineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-martineau/) > [Authorship has never been with me a matter of choice. I have not done it for amusement, or for money, or for fame, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-martineau/authorship-has-never-been-with-me-a-matter-of-choice-i-have-not-done/) [Harriet Martineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-martineau/) > [it is the worst humiliation and grievance of the suffering, that they cause suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-martineau/it-is-the-worst-humiliation-and-grievance-of-the-suffering-that-they/) [Harriet Martineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-martineau/) > [Fidelity to conscience is inconsistent with retiring modesty. If it be so, let the modesty succumb. 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'Tis really ridiculous, how one has to pay five… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-martineau/i-wish-that-the-land-tax-went-a-little-more-according-to-situation/) [Harriet Martineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-martineau/) > [Who is apt, on occasion, to assign a multitude of reasons when one will do? This is a sure sign of weakness in argument.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-martineau/who-is-apt-on-occasion-to-assign-a-multitude-of-reasons-when-one-will/) [Harriet Martineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-martineau/) > [It is hard to tell which is worse; the wide diffusion of things that are not true, or the suppression of things that are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-martineau/it-is-hard-to-tell-which-is-worse-the-wide-diffusion-of-things-that/) [Harriet Martineau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-martineau/) > [Religion is a temper, not a pursuit. It is the moral atmosphere in which human beings are to live and move. 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