The Street Lawyer Quotes

“I didn't dare think of the future; the past was still happening.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“Privileged people don't march and protest; their world is safe and clean and governed by laws designed to keep them happy.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“I’ve lost my love for money. It’s the curse of the devil.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“Cops are not trained to deal with the homeless, especially the mentally ill and the addicts. The jails are overcrowded. The criminal justice system is a nightmare to begin with, and persecuting the homeless only clogs it more. And here’s the asinine part: It costs twenty-five percent more per day to keep a person in jail than to provide shelter, food, transportation, and counseling services. These, of course, would have a long-term benefit. These, of course, would make more sense. Twenty-five percent.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“Mine was the only white face in the crowded restaurant, but I was coming to terms with my whiteness. No one had tried to murder me yet. No one seemed to care.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“You don’t do it for the money. You do it for your soul.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“I thought you were a lawyer," I said, spreading peanut butter.
"I'm a human first, then a lawyer. It's possible to be both...”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“You spend more on fancy coffee than I do on meals. Why can’t you help the poor, the sick, the homeless?”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“Mordecai was not one to worry about the things he couldn't change. His desk was covered with the battles he could win.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“Thirty-one real people were waiting for me to get food stamps, locate housing, file divorces, defend criminal charges, obtain disputed wages, stop evictions, help with their addictions, and in some way snap my fingers and find justice.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“I closed my eyes tightly and offered a short but sincere prayer of thanks.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“Los juicios no siempre tienen que ver con agravios e injusticias; a veces se utilizan como púlpitos.”
― John Grisham, Causa justa

“I cursed Mister for derailing my life. I cursed Mordecai for making me feel guilty. And Ontario for breaking my heart.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“There’s more to being a lawyer than billing hours and making money. Why do we want to become corporate whores? I’m tired of it, Barry. I want to make a difference.” “You sound like a first-year law student.” “Exactly. We got into this business because we thought the law was a higher calling. We could fight injustice and social ills, and do all sorts of great things because we were lawyers. We were idealistic once. Why can’t we do it again?”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“I was a street lawyer, and I could dress any way I wanted.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“I didn't know what I expected. But the smell of fresh paint make me nauseous.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“Your clientele will be a mixture of thirds,” he said, driving badly with one hand, holding coffee with another, oblivious to any of the other vehicles crowded around us. “About a third are employed, a third are families with children, a third are mentally disabled, a third are veterans. And about a third of those eligible for low-income housing receive it. In the past fifteen years, two and a half million low-cost housing units have been eliminated, and the federal housing programs have been cut seventy percent. Small wonder people are living on the streets. Governments are balancing budgets on the backs of the poor.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“the cutthroat world”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“They would soon become my clients, and I would threaten and litigate with a vengeance until they had adequate housing. I couldn’t wait to sue somebody.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“You see, Michael, the homeless have no voice. No one listens, no one cares, and they expect no one to help them. So when they try to use the phone to get benefits due them, they get nowhere. They are put on hold, permanently. Their calls are never returned. They have no addresses. The bureaucrats don’t care, and so they screw the very people they’re supposed to help. A seasoned social worker can at least get the bureaucrats to listen, and maybe look at the file and maybe return a phone call. But you get a lawyer on the phone, barking and raising hell, and things happen. Bureaucrats get motivated. Papers get processed. No address? No problem. Send the check to me, I’ll get it to the client.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“I’m thinking about public interest law.” “What the hell is that?” “It’s when you work for the good of society without making a lot of money.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“I’m a human first, then a lawyer. It’s possible to be both—not quite so much on the spread there. We have to be efficient.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer

“The rights of the homeless would be protected, as long as they could find us. And their voices would be heard through ours.”
― John Grisham, The Street Lawyer