Emile Durkheim Law Quotations

Even one well-made observation will be enough in many cases, just as one well-constructed experiment often suffices for the establishment of a law.

At this point, an urgent question arises: ... Is it our duty to seek to become a thorough and complete human being, one quite sufficient unto himself; or, on the contrary, to be only a part of a whole, the organ of an organism? Briefly, is the division of labor, at the same time that it is a law of nature, also a moral rule of human conduct; and, if it has this latter character, why and in what degree?

If one class of society is obliged, in order to live, to take any price for its services, while another can abstain from such action thanks to resources at its disposal which, however, are not necessarily due to any social superiority, the second has an unjust advantage over the first at law. In other words, there cannot be rich and poor a birth without there being unjust contracts.

When morals are sufficient, law is unnecessary; when morals are insufficient, law is unenforceable.

When mores are sufficient, laws are unnecessary; when mores are insufficient, laws are unenforceable.