Martha Barnett Quotes

Courage is the most important attribute of a lawyer.

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.

There is little more powerful than when truth joins action.

We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the course of history.

The legal profession is overrun with money-makers, who regard it only as a business by which money is made, with little or no thought of the quality of the means used. We greatly need many more lawyers who regard the profession as a ministry in the temple of Justice.

There are two sides to reconciliation; the law aspect and the moral values. Unless there is improvement for both, changes will not come by easily

History can turn on a dime…there are moments where one person can really make a difference.

I love good and caring lawyers who are advocates, who are defenders, who are problem-solvers, and who are peacemakers.

Social movements rarely succeed if they violate our gut sense of decency and moral proportion.

You can't expect to go about change - especially change of this nature, when you talk about racial equality and justice - you can't expect to go about or engage in that without resistance, and so you're going to have some people who aren't on board.

I want to thank the fans across the country who have supported me in this effort to fight for equality and justice. I want to thank those that have dedicated their lives to this fight, as I know that it is not easy. And I want to challenge those who stay silent to be courageous and use your platforms to become part of the solution. God Bless.

The world is only as fair as you can make it. Takes a lot of fight. A lot of fight. But if you stay in here, in your little cave, that's one less fighter on the side of fair.

How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway... And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!

A great many college graduates come here thinking of lawyers as social engineers arguing the great Constitutional issues.

I feel I need to really think about whether there's a way to use what skill I have to address things that outrage me, like the 13 year old girl getting stoned to death. Because I don't think making a movie is going to help that, or change that.

What's more important is that we talk about movements; change happens through movements. The movement to end slavery, the movement to bring justice for those who have been left out of the system, movements to include women, movements around sexual preference - all these movements brought about change.

You can't be neutral on a moving train.

I think feminism is taking off. It's just not visible in the way that we would like it to be.

I like to think I have the guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no-one else believes in - like peace and justice and freedom.

We need to do more than just what is right. We need to join together and right what is wrong.

It's our job to just do as much as we can to enlighten the people about it and to represent it by playing it with some integrity. That's what I try to do.

People need to see what's going on, and they have to be exposed to the mechanisms that can help make it right.

I think that America could not become America until it dealt with the disenfranchisement of women and African Americans in the last century. It had to. America could not become America until it dealt with that. And did it deal with it perfectly? No. But it had to confront it.

When I grow up, I want to be an honest lawyer so things like that can't happen.

Literature, fiction, poetry, whatever, makes justice in the world. That's why it almost always has to be on the side of the underdog.