Jonathan Swift Quotes

A legal broom's a moral chimney-sweeper, And that's the reason he himself's so dirty

Literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus by conscience in touch with humanity.

I think lawyers have a fidelity to the system itself that's always got to be with them, and indeed, most of the defense lawyers I know observe that.

I consider myself a fairly ethical individual while I do have a lot of dichotomies within me. We're all victims of our own hypocrisy at times.

The sins of teachers are the teachers of sin.

I derive no pleasure from prosecuting a man, even though I know he's guilty; do you think I could sleep at night or look at myself in the mirror in the morning if I hounded an innocent man?

I don't want to have to compromise my morals in order to make a living.

All deception in the course of life is indeed nothing else but a lie reduced to practice, and falsehood passing from words into things.

Enhanced interrogation is not to be considered lightly, but the use of enhanced interrogation techniques does not require moral people to abandon their beliefs. Rather, it is precisely during these difficult times that one's beliefs about life, justice and mercy become indispensible.

Don’t put yourself in a situation where you will not be able to achieve your ideals without violating them.

That which is morally wrong will never be politically right.

Occasionally the conflict between 'what we stand for' and 'what we do' has been forthrightly addressed.

I totally reject and have rejected throughout my entire career the proposition that the end justifies the means or that a judge should decide cases based on a desire to reach a certain outcome.

The reality is that when you're a barrister, you're trained, and you've got ethical structures. You've got to follow the evidence, and that's that.

I am not necessarily my clients. I will seek to defend them, to vindicate their rights but that doesn't mean that I necessarily think that what they did was proper.

Nature has placed the need to see justice done in some souls, and the need to flout and affront it in others.

It often falls, in course of common life, that right long time is overborne of wrong.

Courage is the most important attribute of a lawyer.

Necessity knows no law; I know some attorneys of the same.

If lawyers were to undertake no causes till they were sure they were just, a man might be precluded altogether from a trial of his claim, though, were it judicially examined, it might be found a very just claim.

To strictest justice many ills belong, And honesty is often in the wrong.

I don't think you can make a lawyer honest by an act of legislature. You've got to work on his conscience. And his lack of conscience is what makes him a lawyer.

Many among men are they who set high the show of honor, yet break justice.

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

Lawyers should be chosen because they can demonstrate a history rich in human traits, the ability to care, the courage to fight, the will to win, a concern for the human condition, a passion for justice and simple uncompromising honesty. These are the traits of the lawyer.