204 quotes by Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), American (Lawyer)

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Clarence Darrow

I do not believe in God because I do not believe in Mother Goose.

Clarence Darrow

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

Clarence Darrow

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

Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the brain and soul of man.

Clarence Darrow

Always the man on the ground has feared the new comer because he did not understand him. If a white man went into the Congo, he would be hated and misunderstood. That is your lot here. You have a long, long road to travel, an arduous foe to fight, and that foe is prejudice, which we have always had with us. It may be, that without slavery, your race would never have had its chance for civilization. You might still be savages in Africa---and you might be better off there. But still I think that civilization is worth the price we have to pay for it. You'll have to work harder---harder than the white man---because you're on his home grounds....There is no inherent difference between your capacity for growth and that of any other man, whatever his color.

He was lecturing to an audience of 1500 Blacks. Darrow was castigated for telling Negroes that they did not have an inherently inferior capacity from whites, This was feared would make them too demanding and insist on unrealistic equality.

Clarence Darrow

Whenever I hear people discussing birth control, I always remember that I was the fifth.

Clarence Darrow

The ability and inclination to use physical strength is no indication of bravery or tenacity to life. The greatest cowards are often the greatest bullies. Nothing is cheaper and more common than physical bravery.

Clarence Darrow

To think is to differ.

Clarence Darrow

We know life is futile. A man who considers that his life is of very wonderful importance is awfully close to a padded cell.

Clarence Darrow

If today you can take a thing like evolution and make it a crime to teach it in the public school, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools, and the next year you can make it a crime to teach it to the hustings or in the church. At the next session you may ban books and the newspapers.

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About the Author

Clarence Darrow

Born: April 18, 1857
Died: March 13, 1938
Nationality: American
Profession: Lawyer

Biography

Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and a prominent advocate for Georgist economic reform.

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CLARENCE DARROW

(Clarence Seward Darrow)