J. P. Donleavy Quotes

My friend said to me, 'You don't look good,' - because all the time I have to think about law and justice and courts.

The events of the day inspired me to become a lawyer.

And whether you're an honest man, or whether you're a thief, depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief.

The experience of being a prosecutor gives us a sort of proctologists view of our society.

It probably can take me anywhere I want to be, but I have to be honest, being attorney general is a great job.

My father was an attorney in the state of New York, which is where I came up with the term 'advocate.'

What do you know about music, you're not a lawyer?

It is in the habits of lawyers that every accusation appears insufficient if they do not exaggerate it even to calumny; it is thus that justice itself loses its sanctity and its respect amongst men.

A lawyer is just like an attack dog, only without a conscience.

lawyers never go to law, do they? They know better.

The laws I love; the lawyers I suspect.

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

I wanted to be a prosecutor - a criminal lawyer - because there's nowhere where the stakes are higher, where you can wake up every day and believe in what you're doing.

Courtroom : A place where Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot would be equals, with the betting odds favoring Judas.

You never know what's right, what you feel inside versus what is portrayed.

ACCOMPLICE, n. One associated with another in a crime, having guilty knowledge and complicity, as an attorney who defends a criminal, knowing him guilty. This view of the attorney's position in the matter has not hitherto commanded the assent of attorneys, no one having offered them a fee for assenting.

I say, break the law.

I am not an accomplished lawyer.

We don't know much about the human conscience, except that it is soluble in alcohol.

Lawyers do not mix with diplomacy.

Do what you know is right, but try not to get caught.

The law is a horrible business.

Every lawyer, no matter whom they represent, is trying to help someone, whether it's a person, a corporation, a government entity, or a small or big business. To me, lawyering is the height of service - and being involved in this profession is a gift.

When great evils happen, I am in the habit of looking out for what good may arise from them as consolations to us, and Providence has in fact so established the order of things, as that most evils are the means of producing some good.

What do you think of that? It’s stopped raining." I’m glad Jay." Her throat, full of aching, grieving beauty, told only of her unexpected joy.