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A law is not a law without coercion behind it.

A law is a law, and it has to be respected.

The only kind of coercion I recommend is mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon by the majority of the people affected.

Retaliation is related to nature and instinct, not to law. Law, by definition, cannot obey the same rules as nature.

If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion.

Insofar as international law is observed, it provides us with stability and order and with a means of predicting the behavior of those with whom we have reciprocal legal obligations.

We want laws to be applied predictably.

Coercion may prevent many transgressions; but it robs even actions which are legal of a part of their beauty. Freedom may lead to many transgressions, but it lends even to vices a less ignoble form.

Either the law exists, or it does not.

The legitimacy of coercive acts in a democracy arises from the process by which they are justified and by the degree to which we regard decisions as rational. If the justifications proceed properly, through recognized public institutions, and if they make sense to us, they are legitimate.