. . . "Fiat justicia [[sic justitia]], ruat cœlum." The above saying is that which has most influenced my thoughts on social questions. More than thirty years ago Herbert Spencer's application of it--"Equity does not permit property in land"--took firm hold on me, and thus led to the formation of the Land Nationalisation Society. The great principle of justice to all and before all has led me on towards Socialism; and here, too, I claim Herbert Spencer as a teacher, for his fundamental principle of social justice is, that each person "shall receive the benefits and evils due to his own nature and conduct." But this is directly opposed to any unequal inheritance of wealth, and is thus a considerable step on the road to Socialism.

--Alfred R. Wallace.