Page 165-166.
“

I was much troubled in spirit, in my first years upon the bench, to find how trackless was the ocean on which I had embarked. I sought for certainty. I was oppressed and disheartened when I found that the quest for it was futile. I was trying to reach land, the solid land of fixed and settled rules, the paradise of a justice that would declare itself by tokens plainer and more commanding than its pale and glimmering reflections in my own vacillating mind and conscience.

— Benjamin N. Cardozo

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I was much troubled in spirit, in my first years upon the bench, to find how trackless was the ocean on which I had embarked. I sought for certainty. I was oppressed and disheartened when I found that the quest for it was futile. I was trying to reach land, the solid land of fixed and settled rules, the paradise of a justice that would declare itself by tokens plainer and more commanding than its pale and glimmering reflections in my own vacillating mind and conscience." in the context of "Page 165-166." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Benjamin N. Cardozo" (Quotes, Other writings, The Nature of the Judicial Process (1921)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Benjamin N. Cardozo

About Benjamin N. Cardozo

Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (24 May 1870 – 9 July 1938) was a long-time Justice of the Court of Appeals of New York, where his opinions included many declarations that would become famous in legal circles; he was appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1932.