Clarence Darrow

“I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.”

“The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.”

“When I was a boy, I was told that anybody could become president. I'm beginning to believe it.”

“Were these boys in their right minds? Here were two boys with good intellect, one eighteen and one nineteen. They had all the prospects that life could hold out for any of the young; one a g...”

“Every instinct that is found in any man is in all men. The strength of the emotion may not be so overpowering, the barriers against possession not so insurmountable, the urge to accomplish t...”

“Chase after the truth like all hell and you’ll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat tails.”

“I have always felt that doubt was the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of God was the end of wisdom.”

“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.”

“When we fully understand the brevity of life, its fleeting joys and unavoidable pains; when we accept the facts that all men and women are approaching an inevitable doom: the consciousness o...”

“Now, your Honor, I have spoken about the [Civil] war. I believed in it. I don’t know whether I was crazy or not. Sometimes I think perhaps I was. I approved of it; I joined in the general cr...”

“Some false representations contravene the law; some do not. ... The sensibilities of no two men are the same. Some would refuse to sell property without carefully explaining all about its me...”

“I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure — that is all that agnosticism means.”

“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 t...”

“I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means.”

“I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of.”

“I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure - that is all that agnosticism means.”

“Working people have alot of bad habits, but the worst of these is work.”

“True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.”

“I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I would have suffered a hell of a lot more if I had been understood.”

“Chase after the truth like all hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat tails.”