Clarence Darrow Quotes

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I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.

Clarence Darrow

Life, Death, Sarcastic

"The Story of My Life". Book by Clarence Darrow, 1932.

129 Copy quote
The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.

Clarence Darrow

Trust, Law, Doe

Clarence Darrow (2015). “The Story of My Life”, p.84, Lulu.com

105 Copy quote
You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom.

Clarence Darrow

Peace, Life And Love, Freedom

Clarence Darrow (2012). “Attorney for the Damned: Clarence Darrow in the Courtroom”, p.140, University of Chicago Press

132 Copy quote
Nothing is so loved by tyrants as obedient subjects.

Clarence Darrow

Tyrants, Subjects, Obedient

47 Copy quote
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. I'm beginning to believe it.

Clarence Darrow

Funny, Sarcastic, Believe

Quoted in Irving Stone, Clarence Darrow for the Defense (1941)

1443 Copy quote
True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.

Clarence Darrow

Memorial Day, Peace, Hate

150 Copy quote
When we fully understand the brevity of life, its fleeting joys and unavoidable pains; when we accept the facts that all men and women are approaching an inevitable doom: the consciousness of it should make us more kindly and considerate of each other. This feeling should make men and women use their best efforts to help their fellow travelers on the road, to make the path brighter and easier as we journey on. It should bring a closer kinship, a better understanding, and a deeper sympathy for the wayfarers who must live a common life and die a common death.

Clarence Darrow

Pain, Journey, Men

Clarence Darrow (1995). “Why I Am an Agnostic and Other Essays”

86 Copy quote
To be an effective criminal defense counsel, an attorney must be prepared to be demanding, outrageous, irreverent, blasphemous, a rogue, a renegade, and a hated, isolated, and lonely person - few love a spokesman for the despised and the damned.

Clarence Darrow

Love, Lonely, Age

109 Copy quote
I am pleading for the future; I am pleading for a time when hatred and cruelty will not control the hearts of men. When we can learn by, reason and judgment and understanding and faith that all life is worth saving, and that mercy is the highest attribute of man.

Clarence Darrow

Heart, Men, Hatred

Closing argument in Leopold-Loeb trial, Chicago, Ill., 22 Aug. 1924

81 Copy quote
Anyone can spot a lie, unless he is in need of that lie.

Clarence Darrow

Lying, Needs, Spots

44 Copy quote
The world is made up for the most part of morons and natural tyrants, sure of themselves, strong in their own opinions, never doubting anything.

Clarence Darrow

Strong, Tyrants, Doubt

28 Copy quote
A criminal is someone without the capital to incorporate

Clarence Darrow

Criminals

84 Copy quote
I have lived my life, and I have fought my battles, not against the weak and the poor - anybody can do that - but against power, against injustice, against oppression, and I have asked no odds from them, and I never shall.

Clarence Darrow

Odds, Law, Battle

Clarence Darrow (2012). “Attorney for the Damned: Clarence Darrow in the Courtroom”, p.497, University of Chicago Press

79 Copy quote
If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think.

Clarence Darrow

Inspirational, Laughter, Attitude

32 Copy quote
Do you, good people, believe that Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden and that they were forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge? I do. The church has always been afraid of that tree. It still is afraid of knowledge. Some of you say religion makes people happy. So does laughing gas. So does whiskey. I believe in the brain of man.

Clarence Darrow

Believe, Men, Garden

Clarence Darrow's remarks at a debate with religious leaders in Kansas City, as quoted in a Emanuel Haldeman-Julius' eulogy for Clarence Darrow, 1938.

101 Copy quote
The first half of our lives are ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.

Clarence Darrow

Inspirational, Life, Children

34 Copy quote
No other offense has ever been visited with such severe penalties as seeking to help the oppressed.

Clarence Darrow

Helping, Fierce, Penalties

Clarence Darrow (2015). “The Story of My Life”, p.72, Lulu.com

49 Copy quote
As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.

Clarence Darrow

Inspirational, Courage, Honesty

Clarence Darrow (2012). “Attorney for the Damned: Clarence Darrow in the Courtroom”, p.147, University of Chicago Press

55 Copy quote
The most human thing we can do is comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Clarence Darrow

Comfort, Humans, Can Do

45 Copy quote
History repeats itself. That's one of the things wrong with history.

Clarence Darrow

Funny, Sarcastic, Sarcasm

36 Copy quote
I knew that it is out of the question to have honest, economical government while a few are inordinately rich and the great mass of men are poor. In fact, it is to be doubted if anything really worthwhile can be done until there is a fairer distribution of wealth.

Clarence Darrow

Men, Done, Distribution Of Wealth

11 Copy quote
The man who fights for his fellow-man is a better man than the one who fights for himself.

Clarence Darrow

Fighting, Men, Fellow Man

Clarence Darrow (2012). “Attorney for the Damned: Clarence Darrow in the Courtroom”, p.154, University of Chicago Press

28 Copy quote
The fear of God is not the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is the death of wisdom. Skepticism and doubt lead to study and investigation, and investigation is the beginning of wisdom.

Clarence Darrow

Doubt, Study, Investigation

Clarence Darrow (1995). “Why I Am an Agnostic and Other Essays”

20 Copy quote
I am not afraid of any god in the universe who would send me or any other man or woman to hell. If there were such a being, he would not be a god; he would be a devil.

Clarence Darrow

Atheist, Men, Religion

Emanuel Haldeman-Julius' eulogy for Clarence Darrow, 1938.

79 Copy quote
It’s not bad people I fear so much as good people. When a person is sure that he is good, he is nearly hopeless; he gets cruel- he believes in punishment.

Clarence Darrow

Believe, Punishment, People

53 Copy quote

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Born: April 18, 1857
Died: March 13, 1938
Occupation: Lawyer
Cite this Page: Citation

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