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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.

Clarence Darrow

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Clarence Darrow
Age: 80 †
Born: 1857
Born: April 18
Died: 1938
Died: March 13
Lawyer
Writer
Clarence Seward Darrow
Clarence S. Darrow
Lead
Beginning
Study
Doubt
Wisdom
Fear
Death
Skepticism
Investigation

More quotes by Clarence Darrow

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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
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The truth is always modern and there never comes a time when it is safe to give it voice.
Clarence Darrow
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Chloroform unfit children. Show them the same mercy that is shown beasts that are no longer fit to live.
Clarence Darrow
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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
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Any one who thinks is an agnostic about something, otherwise he must believe that he is possessed of all knowledge. And the proper place for such a person is in the madhouse or the home for the feeble-minded.
Clarence Darrow
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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
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The only real lawyers are trial lawyers, and trial lawyers try cases to juries.
Clarence Darrow
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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
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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.
Clarence Darrow
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Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the brain and soul of man.
Clarence Darrow
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The man who fights for his fellow-man is a better man than the one who fights for himself.
Clarence Darrow
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Most jury trials are contests between the rich and poor.
Clarence Darrow
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Ancestors do not mean so much. The rebel who succeeds generally makes it easier for the posterity that follows him so these descendants are usually contented and smug and soft. Rebels are made from life, not ancestors.
Clarence Darrow
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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
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One cannot live through a long stretch of years without forming some philosophy of life.
Clarence Darrow
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Laws have come down to us from old customs and folk-ways based on primitive ideas of man's origin, capacity and responsibility.
Clarence Darrow
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Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?
Clarence Darrow
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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
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Laws should be like clothes. They should be made to fit the people they are meant to serve.
Clarence Darrow
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Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.
Clarence Darrow