John Grisham

I want respect, and the only way to get it is to earn it.

Trial lawyers were a strange breed. They walked a fine line between big verdicts and catastrophic failures, and the great ones were not afraid of the risks.

Knowledge is not a crime.

Deny, deny, deny — the first rule for a criminal defense lawyer.

We don't work by the hour, but by the client.

The coal companies run roughshod over the land and the people because they have the money and the power.

If you play by the rules, you lose, even when you're on the right side.

They say a woman marries a man with the belief she can change him, and she can’t. A man marries a woman with the belief that she won’t change, and she does. We do.

Every child wants their parents to stay together. It's a basic survival instinct. And when they split, the child wants them to at least be friends. Some are able to do this, some are not.

Stepping into a major trial is like plunging with a weighted belt into a dark and weedy pond. You manage to scramble up for air, but the rest of the world doesn't matter. And you always think you're drowning.

Things were too unsettled, and changing rapidly, and, well, no one could say where they might be in a year.

First impressions are often wrong.

Over dinner there would be no shop talk.

Pizzerias in big cities benefit from Italian natives or descendants thereof, people who understand that real pizza comes from Naples where the crusts are thin and the toppings simple.

If the Feds want to get you, they'll figure out a way. Conspiracy was one of their favorites.

Courtroom... It's the only place where the little guy can go toeto-toe on a level field with a big, crooked corporation. A person with nothing — no money, no power — nothing but a set of facts can file a lawsuit and force a billion-dollar company to show up for a fair fight.