The kind of lawyer you hope the other fellow has.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
Laws and customs may be creative of vice; and should be therefore perpetually under process of observation and correction: but laws and customs cannot be creative of virtue: they may encourage and help to preserve it; but they cannot originate it.
—Harriet Martineau (1802–76) English Sociologist, Economist, Essayist, Philosopher
By birth and interest lawyers belong to the people; by habit and taste to the aristocracy; and they may be looked upon as the natural bond and connecting link of the two great classes of society.—They are attached to public order beyond every other consideration, and the best security of public order is authority.—If they prize the free institutions of their country much, they value the legality of these institutions far more.—They are less afraid of tyranny than of arbitrary power.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
Lawyers I suppose were children once.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
The laws and the stage, both are a form of exhibitionism.
—Orson Welles (1915–85) American Film Director, Actor
Bad laws are the worst form of tyranny.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Courts of law, and all the paraphernalia and folly of law cannot be found in a rational state of society.
—Robert Owen (1771–1858) British Social Reformer, Philosopher
He is no lawyer who cannot take two sides.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
The clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened when there is no rule of law.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
The spirit of moderation should also be the spirit of the lawgiver.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist
Our human laws are more or less imperfect copies of the external laws as we see them.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
It is difficult to make our material condition better by the best law, but it is easy enough to ruin it by bad laws.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Keep out of Chancery. It’s being ground to bits in a slow mill; it’s being roasted at a slow fire; it’s being stung to death by single bees; it’s being drowned by drops; it’s going mad by grains.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Virtue in the middle, said the Devil when seated between two lawyers.
—Danish Proverb
The business of the law is to make sense of the confusion of what we call human life—to reduce it to order but at the same time to give it possibility, scope, even dignity.
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) American Poet, Dramatist
Where there is no law there is no transgression.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Lawyers are men who hire out their words and anger.
—Martial (40–104) Ancient Roman Latin Poet
Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist
A jury too often has at least one member more ready to hang the panel than to hang the traitor.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Whenever men take the law into their own hands, the loser is the law. And when the law loses, freedom languishes.
—Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68) American Politician, Civil Rights Activist
Unless Hell is full, no lawyer will ever be saved.
—French Proverb
Laws teach us to know when we commit injury and when we suffer it.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Adversaries in law strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The priest’s friend loses his faith, the doctor’s his health, and the lawyer’s his fortune.
—Italian Proverb
Law and equity are two things that God hath joined together, but which man has put asunder.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
A priest sees people at their best, a lawyer at their worst, but a doctor sees them as they really are.
—Common Proverb
Time is money, especially when you are talking to a lawyer or buying a commercial.
—Frank Lane (1896–1981) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
We may not all break the Ten Commandments, but we are certainly all capable of it. Within us lurks the breaker of all laws, ready to spring out at the first real opportunity.
—Isadora Duncan (1877–1927) American Dancer, Choreographer
Lawyers spend a great deal of their time shoveling smoke.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
Divorce is a game played by lawyers.
—Cary Grant (1904–86) British-American Film Actor