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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

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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
Really
Abnormal
Men
Masses
Mediocre
Exception
Intelligent
Mass
Rather
Defective
Great
Exceptions

More quotes by Clarence Darrow

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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
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Nothing is so loved by tyrants as obedient subjects.
Clarence Darrow
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The world is made up for the most part of morons and natural tyrants, sure of themselves, strong in their own opinions, never doubting anything.
Clarence Darrow
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The purpose of man is like the purpose of a pollywog - to wiggle along as far as he can without dying or, to hang to life until death takes him.
Clarence Darrow
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I feel as I always have, that the earth is the home and the only home of man, and I am convinced that whatever he is to get out of his existence he must get while he is here.
Clarence Darrow
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None meet life honestly and few heroically.
Clarence Darrow
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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
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Freedom comes from human beings, rather than from laws and institutions.
Clarence Darrow
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Human action is governed largely by instinct and emotion.
Clarence Darrow
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Most jury trials are contests between the rich and poor.
Clarence Darrow
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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
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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
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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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The first half of our lives are ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.
Clarence Darrow
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Punishment as punishment is not admissible unless the offender has had the freewill to select his course.
Clarence Darrow
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There is no such thing as justice - in or out of court.
Clarence Darrow
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You can't get to a pleasant place to be at unless you use pleasant methods to get there. When you are dealing with a human society the means is fully as important as the end.
Clarence Darrow
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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
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It must always be remembered that all laws are naturally and inevitably evolved by the strongest force in a community, and in the last analysis made for the protection of the dominant class.
Clarence Darrow