Clarence Darrow Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

I don't believe in God because I don't believe in Mother Goose.

A criminal is someone without the capital to incorporate

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.

I don't like spinach, and I'm glad I don't, because if I liked it I'd eat it, and I just hate it.

Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for.

Calvin Coolidge was the greatest man who ever came out of Plymouth Corner, Vermont.

I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means.

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.

Justice has nothing to do with what goes on in a courtroom; Justice is what comes out of a courtroom

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.

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

It must always be remembered that all laws are naturally and inevitably evolved by the strongest force in a community, and in the last analysis made for the protection of the dominant class.

Nothing is so loved by tyrants as obedient subjects.

I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.

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

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

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

The objector and the rebel who raises his voice against what he believes to be the injustice of the present and the wrongs of the past is the one who hunches the world along.

There is no such crime as a crime of thought; there are only crimes of action.

If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think.

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

Some of you say religion makes people happy. So does laughing gas.

I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I would have suffered a hell of a lot more if I had been understood.

The only real lawyers are trial lawyers, and trial lawyers try cases to juries.

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

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

Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.

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.

There are no faster or firmer friendships than those formed between people who love the same books.

Each child should be more intelligent than his parents.

An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral.

You can only be free if I am free.

Chase after the truth like all hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat tails.

There is no such thing as justice - in or out of court.

I am always suspicious of righteous indignation. Nothing is more cruel than righteous indignation.

I am a friend of the working man, and I would rather be his friend, than be one.

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.

It is bigotry for public schools to teach only one theory of origins.

Someday I hope to write a book where the royalties will pay for the copies I give away.

The difference between the child and the man lies chiefly in the unlimited confidence and buoyancy of youth.

Inside every lawyer is the wreck of a poet.

There are two things that kill a genius - a fatal disease and contentment.

The purpose of life is to live it.

Chase after the truth like all hell.

Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?