Henry David Thoreau

Almost any man knows how to earn money, but not one in a million knows how to spend it.

Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.

Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout.

It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for law, so much as a respect for right.

The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement.

As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.

To live outside the law, you must be honest.

The law will never make men free, it is men that have to make the law free.

Justice? – You get justice in the next world. In this one you have the law.

The highest law gives a thing to him who can use it.

Men are not governed by justice, but by law or persuasion. When they refuse to be governed by law or persuasion, they have to be governed by force or fraud, or both.

A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.

My focus now is to be the best justice I can be.

Lawyers know life practically. A bookish man should always have them to converse with.

An incompetent attorney can delay a trial for months or years. A competent attorney can delay one even longer.

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.

Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences, for there is no worse torture than that of laws.

Are you threatening me? If you so much as touch me I’ll have you arrested!

When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.

In law, nothing is certain but the expense.

You get a lawyer whether you’re in a military tribunal or whether you’re in a federal court, number one. The attorney general decided that the court with the biggest – with the greatest venue, with the best jurisdiction was the New York court. That was the right decision to make.