The above Latin phrase when translated says: "Let justice be done though the heavens fall." While, this maxim is found in various courts of law, as well as upon the frame of paintings of various famous jurists, and the like, seldom are these words actually taken to heart, and even less so, seldom are they practiced in an actual court of law.
In life as in court, the true test of any genuine belief is whether or not the person expressing such or having the power to implement such has the integrity to actually do what should be done, especially when they are aware that in so doing, they may indeed make a real material impact upon a matter of real material importance. Even more telling, are those times when people are prominently positioned, such as in a court of law, in which decisions so made, will directly or indirectly, make impact upon powerful people of powerful societies that will most certainly displease those powerful people.
Yet, the very reason why it appears that life is circular for mankind is fundamentally because when provided the opportunity again and again, to change what needs to be changed, mankind fails to do what needs to be done, because mankind lacks the courage and follow through to do exactly that. There are very few people and very few societies that are willing to keep the faith, and to do what should be done, when their own safety, or their family's safety, or their nation's safety, or their reputation is put to the test in which they do not desire to risk that which means everything to them, even at the cost of compromising their own integrity.
To be just, when everyone around is unjust, is a very difficult thing to do. To do the right thing, when everyone else is doing the wrong thing, is a very difficult thing to do. Yet, when we are unjust and when we are wrong, we are not progressing mankind, rather we are hindering mankind, for that which is unjust and wrong, is not just and is not right. This signifies that all those that ought to know better but still insist upon doing that which is not right, for expediency purposes, or in the false belief, that just this one injustice, won't a habit make, are false to their own self.
When we find that a given country, or a given society, or a given person, consciously chooses not to be just, the end result will never be justice, but rather it will always be even more injustice. The very choices that each of us make, day by day, define who and what we really are, and every time we turn our back upon justice, in order, for example, to benefit our own self, or to cheat the system, or because we fear this or that, we have written in stone as to what we truly are.
If it must be so, then let the heavens fall, for we can never possibly hope to break through what needs to be broken through, until we actually face squarely what needs to be faced. In doing so, we might just find that rather than the heavens so falling, a great and illimitable light will shine upon us, for that which separates us from that Light is ever only our own personal darkness.