Quotes from Gerry Spence

But they argued out of strength, not weakness, out of conviction, not insecurity. They argued toward the fulfillment of a purpose and in service to mankind.

I know love is worth the time it takes to find. Think of that when all the world seems made of walk up rooms and hands in empty pockets

Early on de Tocqueville correctly observed that this democracy was one in which "men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, 'til each nation is reduced to be nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals.…" (my italics).

Power can be safely exercised only in the service of that which is ostensibly good. Power is like gasoline. Spread aimlessly over the landscape, it can result in an inferno, causing untold harm. Correctly contained, it can cook supper or transport us to Boston.

That is why, in the course of human history, truth-telling has been designated as the highest of virtues in every culture, and why the credibility that results therefrom is always so powerful.

I know of no Liars Anonymous organizations.

The people of a nation are enslaved when, together, they are helpless to institute effective change, when the people serve the government more than the government serves them.

Love is how we feel toward those who show us that which is lovable about ourselves.

Is there anyone I wouldn't take as a client? Well, I'd never represent a banker.

My intent is to tell the truth as I know it, realizing that what is true for me may be blasphemy for others.

I love my life and I am so blessed.

What the insurance companies have done is to reverse the business so that the public at large insures the insurance companies.

Everyone wants to argue. Everyone does. Everyone needs to.

To freely bloom — that is my definition of success.

To freely bloom - that is my definition of success.

Yet I made the purchase, captivated by the ring of truth, by the simple winning argument of the old man who told us plainly what he wanted.

Use simple words, words that _create pictures_ and _action_ and that _generate feeling._

The inability to yield control is often misinterpreted as inability or weakness. Giving up control is often confused with giving up. 223

Giving up control is often confused with giving up.

Words that do not create images should be discarded. Words that have no intrinsic emotional or visual content ought to be avoided. Words that are directed to the sterile intellectual head-place should be abandoned. Use simple words, words that create pictures and action and that generate feeling.

How strange, I thought, that we are able to argue so well against ourselves but so ineffectively _for_ ourselves.

Crawling into the skin of the other (empathy). 'It must be hard to …' 176

_It must have been_ are magical words that say to the _Other_, 'I understand how it was.

The argument must begin from a position that generates acceptance or approval.