proverb · Words worth keeping
Laws were made for rogues.
Laws were made for rogues.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying imagines laws as responses to dishonest or harmful conduct. It assigns their purpose to restraining rogues rather than explaining every function of law.
Example
A group explains the conduct its shared rule addresses instead of assuming every person affected by the rule is dishonest.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
Were made gives the statement the force of an origin claim, but the verse supplies no legal history. A careful interpretation can discuss why shared rules respond to misconduct without treating the label rogue as enough to judge someone. Laws may concern many situations outside this narrow image; the useful question is what a particular rule is meant to address.
When to use it
Use it to examine a narrow account of why rules exist.
Keep in mind
It is not legal history, current law or a justification for labelling people guilty.
An interpretation of the words, not a claim about their earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Date unknown
- Culture
- English