John Finnis Quotes
John Finnis is an Australian-British legal and moral philosopher, emeritus professor of law at Oxford and a long-time professor at the University of Notre Dame. Natural Law and Natural Rights, his major work, reconstructed the natural law tradition of Aquinas in contemporary terms, identifying a list of basic human goods that practical reason recognizes as self-evidently choiceworthy and a set of principles for choosing reasonably among them. The quotes below are attributed to John Finnis, organized by topic.
John Finnis on God
-
Attributed to John Finnis:
“Reason and faith share the goods of the human person; they are not foreign to each other.”
-
“Alternately reported as: "That is my thunder, by God; the villains will play my thunder, but not my play." Reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations , 10th ed. (1919).”
See how the rascals use me! They will not let my play run; and yet they steal my thunder.
John Finnis on Justice
-
Attributed to John Finnis:
“A law contrary to the basic goods is not, in the proper sense, law at all.”
John Finnis on Knowledge
-
“A man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket.”
The Gentleman's Magazine (1781), Vol. LI. p. 324. -
“The Gentleman's Magazine (1781), Vol. LI. p. 324.”
A man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket. -
“See how the rascals use me! They will not let my play run; and yet they steal my thunder.”
Alternately reported as: "That is my thunder, by God; the villains will play my thunder, but not my play." Reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations , 10th ed. (1919). | Note: Dennis had written a tragedy, Appius and Virginia , for which he had invented a new technique for creating the sound of thunder , which the actors favored and which remained in use for centuries thereafter. The play itself
John Finnis on Virtue
-
Attributed to John Finnis:
“There are basic human goods that reason grasps as good in themselves.”
-
Attributed to John Finnis:
“Natural law is what reason perceives in the structure of the goods of human nature.”
-
Attributed to John Finnis:
“Practical reason proceeds from the basic goods to the principles of reasonableness.”