Daily Inspiration Quote by Learned Hand

Hand’s line is a judge’s rebuke to the fantasy that language can be treated like inert evidence bags: sealed, labeled, and stacked without touching. “Pebbles” suggests hard, self-contained objects whose meaning doesn’t change when you shuffle them. By denying that words work that way, Hand is pushing back against a rigid, literalist approach to legal interpretation - the notion that you can resolve disputes by counting dictionary definitions and refusing to look up from the text.

The kicker is “alien juxtaposition.” It’s not just that words depend on context; it’s that forcing them into an “alien” arrangement is an act of violence. Put terms side by side without regard for common usage, purpose, or the problem the law is trying to solve, and you manufacture meaning rather than discover it. Hand is signaling that interpretation is not a mechanical operation but a disciplined reading of relationships: syntax, surrounding provisions, practical consequences, and the real-world assumptions shared by speaker and audience.

In context, that’s classic Learned Hand - wary of grand theory, insistent on craft. As a major federal judge in the early 20th century, he lived through expanding administrative government, labor conflict, and shifting economic regulation, all of which pressured courts to choose between cramped formalism and pragmatic sense-making. The aphorism carries a quiet warning: if judges pretend words are pebbles, they’ll smuggle their preferences in through the back door anyway, disguised as “plain meaning.” Better to admit language is relational, and hold interpretation accountable to reasoned context rather than pretend neutrality.