110+ Clarence Darrow Quotes On Religion, Defender And Advocate

Clarence Darrow was an American lawyer who became famous for his involvement in the Scopes Monkey Trial. He was a passionate advocate for progressive causes, including the labor movement and civil rights. He was also a leading opponent of the death penalty, and he defended numerous defendants in high-profile murder trials throughout his career. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Clarence Darrow on religion, defender, advocate.

Top 10 Clarence Darrow Quotes

1. When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I'm beginning to believe it.
2. You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom.
3. True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. History repeats itself. That's one of the things wrong with history.
7. 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.
8. I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.
9. No other offense has ever been visited with such severe penalties as seeking to help the oppressed.
10. Justice has nothing to do with what goes on in a courtroom; Justice is what comes out of a courtroom

Clarence Darrow Short Quotes

• Nothing is so loved by tyrants as obedient subjects.
• I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.
• 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 man who fights for his fellow-man is a better man than the one who fights for himself.
• There is no such thing as justice--in or out of court.
• I am a friend of the working man, and I would rather be his friend, than be one.
• An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral.
• I am always suspicious of righteous indignation. Nothing is more cruel than righteous indignation.
• Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?

Clarence Darrow Quotes About Religion

I do not believe in god because I do not believe in Mother Goose. — Clarence Darrow

In spite of all the yearnings of men, no one can produce a single fact or reason to support the belief in God and in personal immortality. — Clarence Darrow

Religion is the belief in future life and in God. I don't believe in either. — Clarence Darrow

I am simply an agnostic. I haven't yet had time or opportunity to explore the universe, and I don't know what I might run on to in some nook or corner. — Clarence Darrow

I have always felt that doubt was the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of God was the end of wisdom. — Clarence Darrow

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. — Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow Quotes About Free

You can only be free if I am free. — Clarence Darrow

Chase after the truth like all hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coattails. — Clarence Darrow

You can protect your liberties in this world only by protecting the other man's freedom. You can be free only if I am free. — Clarence Darrow

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

The pursuit of truth will set you free; even if you never catch up with it. — Clarence Darrow

There are a lot of myths which make the human race cruel and barbarous and unkind. Good and Evil, Sin and Crime, Free Will and the like delusions made to excuse God for damning men and to excuse men for crucifying each other. — Clarence Darrow

Punishment as punishment is not admissible unless the offender has had the freewill to select his course. — Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow Quotes About Ignorant

I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure -- that is all that agnosticism means. — Clarence Darrow

The time will come when all people will view with horror light way in which society and its courts of law now take human life; and when that time comes, the way will be clear to device some better method of dealing with poverty and ignorance and their frequent byproducts, which we call crime. — Clarence Darrow

I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means. — Clarence Darrow

Do you think you can cure the hatreds and the maladjustments of the world by hanging them? You simply show your ignorance and your hate when you say it. You may here and there cure hatred with love and understanding, but you can only add fuel to the flames by cruelty and hate. — Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow Quotes About Children

Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt. — Clarence Darrow

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

Each child should be more intelligent than his parents. — Clarence Darrow

The first half of our life is ruined by our parents and the second half by our children. — Clarence Darrow

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

Everyone is the heir to all that has gone before; his structure and emotional life is fixed, and no two children of nature have the same heredity. I believe everyone should and must live out what is in him. So no two lives can be the same. — Clarence Darrow

It is just as often a great misfortune to be the child of the rich as it is to be the child of the poor. Wealth has its misfortunes. Too much, too great opportunity and advantage given to a child has its misfortunes. — Clarence Darrow

Chloroform unfit children. Show them the same mercy that is shown beasts that are no longer fit to live. — Clarence Darrow

The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, the second half by our children. — Clarence Darrow

Sympathy is the child of imagination — Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow Quotes About World

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. — Clarence Darrow

At twenty a man is full of fight and hope. He wants to reform the world. When he is seventy he still wants to reform the world, but he know he can't. — Clarence Darrow

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. — Clarence Darrow

People in this world are not often logical. — Clarence Darrow

It is not for the world to judge, but to crown them all alike. Each and all lived out their own being, did their work in their own way, and carried a reluctant, stupid humanity to greater possibilities and grander heights. — Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow Famous Quotes And Sayings

To be an effective criminal defense counsel, an attorney must be prepared to be demanding, outrageous, irreverent, blasphemous, a rogue, a renegade, and a hated, isolated, and lonely person - few love a spokesman for the despised and the damned. — Clarence Darrow

Do you, good people, believe that Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden and that they were forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge? I do. The church has always been afraid of that tree. It still is afraid of knowledge. Some of you say religion makes people happy. So does laughing gas. So does whiskey. I believe in the brain of man. — Clarence Darrow

The efforts of the medical profession in the US to control:...its...job it proposes to monopolize. It has been carrying on a vigorous campaign all over the country against new methods and schools of healing because it wants the business...I have watched this medical profession for a long time and it bears watching. — Clarence Darrow

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

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

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

To think is to differ. — Clarence Darrow

I had a vivid imagination. Not only could I put myself in the other person's place, but I could not avoid doing so. My sympathies always went out to the weak, the suffering, and the poor. Realizing their sorrows I tried to relieve them in order that I myself might be relieved. — Clarence Darrow

The trouble with law is lawyers. — Clarence Darrow

Never forget, almost every case has been won or lost when the jury is sworn. — Clarence Darrow

The best that we can do is to be kindly and helpful toward our friends and fellow passengers who are clinging to the same speck of dirt while we are drifting side by side to our common doom. — Clarence Darrow

Physical deformity, calls forth our charity. But the infinite misfortune of moral deformity calls forth nothing but hatred and vengeance. — Clarence Darrow

Thirteen states with a population less than that of New York State alone can prevent repeal [of prohibition] until Halley's comet returns. One might as well talk about a summer vacation on Mars. — Clarence Darrow

Instead of yielding to idle conversation it might profit one to cultivate silence and contemplation. — Clarence Darrow

I knew that it is out of the question to have honest, economical government while a few are inordinately rich and the great mass of men are poor. In fact, it is to be doubted if anything really worthwhile can be done until there is a fairer distribution of wealth. — Clarence Darrow

Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the brain and soul of man. She will have nothing from him who will not give her all. She knows that his pretended love serves but to betray. But when once the fierce heat of her quenchless, lustrous eyes have burned into the victim's heart, he will know no other smile but hers. — Clarence Darrow

Laws should be like clothes. They should be made to fit the people they are meant to serve. — Clarence Darrow

In this dilemma they evolved the theory of natural rights. If 'natural rights' means anything it means that the individual rights are to be determined by the conduct of Nature. But Nature knows nothing about rights in the sense of human conception. — Clarence Darrow

With all their faults, trade-unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. — Clarence Darrow

The ability and inclination to use physical strength is no indication of bravery or tenacity to life. The greatest cowards are often the greatest bullies. Nothing is cheaper and more common than physical bravery. — Clarence Darrow

The really intelligent are as abnormal as the defective. The great masses of men are rather mediocre, and those above and below are exceptions. — Clarence Darrow

I never wanted to see anybody die, but there are a few obituary notices I have read with pleasure. — Clarence Darrow

Everybody is a potential murderer. I've never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices. — Clarence Darrow

Different strokes for different folks. — Clarence Darrow

We're all killers at heart . . . . I have never taken anybody's life, but I have often read obituary notices with considerable satisfaction. — Clarence Darrow

Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the brain and soul of man. — Clarence Darrow

Cheating, having 'hoes,' none of that is cute. To be honest, it's really immature. I don't see how people take pride in breaking someone's heart. The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business. — Clarence Darrow

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. — Clarence Darrow

I don't believe in God because I don't believe in Mother Goose — Clarence Darrow

My constitution was destroyed long ago; now I am living under the bylaws. — Clarence Darrow

Lawyers are natural politicians. — Clarence Darrow

Those who enjoy the emotion of hating are much like the groups who sate their thirst for blood by hunting and hounding to death helpless animals as an outlet for their emotions. — Clarence Darrow

No man is a good citizen, a good neighbor, a good friend, or a good man just because he obeys the law. The intrinsic worth is determined mainly by the intrinsic make-up. — Clarence Darrow

Whenever I hear people discussing birth control, I always remember that I was fifth. — Clarence Darrow

The consideration and kindness shown by unfortunates to each other are surprising to those who have no experience with this class of men. Often to find real sympathy you must go to those who know what misery means. — Clarence Darrow

All men have an emotion to kill; when they strongly dislike someone they involuntarily wish he was dead. I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction. — Clarence Darrow

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

The nation that would to-day disarm its soldiers and turn its people to the paths of peace would accomplish more to its building up than by all the war taxes wrong from its hostile and unwilling serfs — Clarence Darrow

The audience that storms the box-office of the theater to gain entrance to a sensational show is small and sleepy compared with the throng that crashes the courthouse door when something concerning real life and death is to be laid bare to the public. — Clarence Darrow

If there is to be any permanent improvement in man and any better social order, it must come mainly from the education and humanizing of man. — Clarence Darrow

Criminal cases receive the attention of the press. The cruel and disagreeable things of life are more apt to get the newspaper space than the pleasant ones. It must be that most people enjoy hearing of and reading about the troubles of others. Perhaps men unconsciously feel that they rise in the general level as others go down. — Clarence Darrow

Human action is governed largely by instinct and emotion. — Clarence Darrow

If a man is happy in America, it is considered he is doing something wrong. — Clarence Darrow

The Constitution is a delusion and a snare if the weakest and humblest man in the land cannot be defended in his right to speak and his right to think as much as the strongest in the land. — Clarence Darrow

Probably the undertaker thinks less of death than almost any other man. He is so accustomed to it that his mind must involuntarily turn from its horror to a contemplation of how much he makes out of the burial. — Clarence Darrow

If a man really has charge of his destiny at all, he should have something to say about getting born; and I only came through by a hair's-breadth. What had I to do with this momentous first step? In the language of the lawyer, I was not even a party of the second part. — Clarence Darrow

Autobiography is never entirely true. No one can get the right perspective on himself. Every fact is colored by imagination and dream. — Clarence Darrow

The truth is, no man is white and no man is black. We are all freckled. — Clarence Darrow

Hoover, if elected, will do one thing that is almost incomprehensible to the human mind: he will make a great man out of Coolidge. — Clarence Darrow

A jury is more apt to be unbiased and independent than a court, but they very seldom stand up against strong public clamor. Judges naturally believe the defendant is guilty. — Clarence Darrow

Men have always been obliged to fight to preserve liberty. Constitutions and laws do not safeguard liberty. It can be preserved only by a tolerant people, and this means eternal conflict. — Clarence Darrow

I am sure of very little, and I shouldn't be surprised if those things were wrong. — Clarence Darrow

I am an agnostic as to the question of God. — Clarence Darrow

In the great flood of human life that is spawned upon the earth, it is not often that a man is born. — Clarence Darrow

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

Education was in danger from the source that always hampered it—religious fanaticism. — Clarence Darrow

A criminal is someone without the capital to incorporate — Clarence Darrow

Inside every lawyer is the wreck of a poet. — Clarence Darrow

No iconoclast can possibly escape the severest criticism. — Clarence Darrow

One cannot live through a long stretch of years without forming some philosophy of life. — Clarence Darrow

We know life is futile. A man who considers that his life is of very wonderful importance is awfully close to a padded cell. — Clarence Darrow

Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular cause. — Clarence Darrow

The fact that there is a general belief in a future life is no evidence of its truth — Clarence Darrow

To say that the universe was here last year, or millions of years ago, does not explain its origin. This is still a mystery. As to the question of the origin of things, man can only wonder and doubt and guess. — Clarence Darrow

Life Lessons by Clarence Darrow

1. Clarence Darrow taught us that it is important to stand up for what we believe in, even when the odds are stacked against us.
2. He showed us the power of compassion and understanding, and how it can help to bring about positive change in a difficult situation.
3. He also demonstrated the importance of being willing to listen to different perspectives and to work together to find a solution that is beneficial to all parties involved.