Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow (1857 - 1938), full name Clarence Seward Darrow, was a US lawyer and a leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, and a prominent advocate for Georgist economic reform. He came into limelight in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial.

Wisdom & Quotes

• 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.

- Sign magazine, May 1938

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

- People v. Lloyd, 1920

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

- interview, The New York Times, April 19, 1936

• Law (is) a horrible business.

- interview, The New York Times, April 19, 1936

• There is no such thing as rights anyhow. It is a question of whether you can put it over. In any legal sense or practical sense, whatever is, is 'a right'.

- debate on Prohibition, quoted in Kevin Tierney, Darrow

• The truth is always modern, and thee never comes a time when it is safe to give it voice.

- writing on Voltaire, cited in George Seldes, The Great Quotations

• Working people have a lot of bad habits, but the worst of them is work.

- quoted in Kevin Tierney, Darrow

Oswald Garrison Villard