God works wonders now and then: Behold! A lawyer and an honest man.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Fish die when they are out of water, and people die without law and order.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Lawyer, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
When you are very angry, don’t go to a lawyer; when you are very hungry, don’t be a poet.
—Chinese Proverb
Laws teach us to know when we commit injury and when we suffer it.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The power of the lawyer is in the uncertainty of the law.
—Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) British Philosopher, Economist
I was never ruined but twice; once when I lost a lawsuit and once when I won one.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Lawyers on opposite sides of a case are like the two parts of shears; they cut what comes between them, but not each other.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
Those laws, being forged for universal application, are in perpetual conflict with personal interest, just as personal interest is always in contradiction with the general interest. Good for society, our laws are very bad for the individuals whereof it is composed; for, if they one time protect the individual, they hinder, trouble, fetter him for three quarters of his life.
—Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) French Political leader, Revolutionary, Novelist, Poet, Critic
I have spent all my life under a Communist regime, and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either.
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian Dissident Novelist
The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
It is unfair to believe everything we hear about lawyers, some of it might not be true.
—Gerald F. Lieberman
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Where there is no law there is no transgression.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
The only laws of matter are those that our minds must fabricate and the only laws of mind are fabricated for it by matter.
—James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) Scottish Mathematician, Physicist
The lawyers’ truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Lawyers spend a great deal of their time shoveling smoke.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
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
I have enforced the law against killing certain animals and many others, but the greatest progress of righteousness among men comes from the exhortation in favor of non-injury to life and abstention from killing living beings.
—Ashoka (c.304–c.232 BCE) Emperor of India
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
Law grinds the poor, and rich men rule the law.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
The United States is the greatest law factory the world has ever known.
—Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948) American Elected Rep, Judge, Politician, Lawyer, Professor
A good lawyer is a bad neighbor.
—French Proverb
The trouble with law is lawyers.
—Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer
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
Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can … As a peace-maker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
To some lawyers, all facts are created equal.
—Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) American Judge
Time is money, especially when you are talking to a lawyer or buying a commercial.
—Frank Lane (1896–1981) American Sportsperson, Businessperson