Precedents are dangerous things; let the rein of government then be braced and held with a steady hand

All bad precedents begin as justifiable measures

We need to be careful about the precedents we're setting on caps for charter schools. We need to look at the caps as a whole.

The Crucifixion and other historical precedents notwithstanding, many of us still believe that outstanding goodness is a kind of armor, that virtue, seen plain and bare, gives pause to criminality. But perhaps it is the other way around.

It is found by experience that admirable laws and right precedents among the good have their origin in the misdeeds of others.

Precedents once established are so much positive power