Louis Nizer Quotes

A graceful taunt is worth a thousand insults.

I know of no higher fortitude than stubborness in the face of overwhelming odds.

A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.

Words of comfort, skillfully administered, are the oldest therapy known to man.

When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself.

True religion is the life we lead, not the creed we profess.

Many people with different backgrounds, cultures, languages, and creeds combine to make a nation. But that nation is greater than the sum total of the individual skills and talents of its people. Something more grows out of their unity than can be calculated by adding the assets of individual contributions. That intangible additional quantity is often due to the differences which make the texture of the nation rich. Therefore, we must never wipe out or deride the differences amongst us-for where there is no difference, there is only indifference.

A beautiful lady is an accident of nature. A beautiful old lady is a work of art.

Preparation is the be-all of good trial work. Everything else - felicity of expression, improvisational brilliance - is a satellite around the sun. Thorough preparation is that sun.

Education is not the accumulation of knowledge, but the ability to find it.

The best reply to an atheist is to give him a good dinner and ask him if he believes there is a cook.

A speaker who does not strike oil in ten minutes should stop boring.

In cross examination, as in fishing, nothing is more ungainly than a fisherman pulled into the water by his catch.

Where there is no difference, there is only indifference.

Most lawyers who win a case advise their clients, "We have won," and when justice has frowned upon their cause ... "You have lost.

A man's life is colored by the dye of his imagination.

Luck usually visits me at 2 am on a cold morning when, red-eyed and bone-weary, I am pouring over law books preparing a case. It never visits me when I am at the cinema, on a golf course or reclining in an easy chair.

Yes, there's such a thing as luck in trial law but it only comes at 3 o'clock in the morning. You'll still find me in the library looking for luck at 3 o'clock in the morning.

A fine artist is one who makes familiar things new and new things familiar.

Some people will believe anything if you whisper it to them.

Oh, I get lucky a lot. I get lucky at four in the morning in the law library.

Books are standing counselors and preachers, always at hand, and always disinterested; having this advantage over oral instructors, that they are ready to repeat their lesson as often as we please.

A father is a thousand schoolmasters.