John Grisham > Quotes

“Don't compromise yourself - you're all you have.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“You live your life today,
Not tommorow,
and certainly not yesterday.”
― John Grisham

“Some people have more guts than brains.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“If you're gonna be stupid you gotta be tough.”
― John Grisham, The Testament

“I'm alone and outgunned, scared and inexperienced, but I'm right.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“Critics should find meaningful work.”
― John Grisham

“A battered wife is a married woman until she gets a divorce. Or until she kills the bastard.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“In life, finding a voice is speaking and living the truth. Each of you is an original. Each of you has a distinctive voice. When you find it, your story will be told. You will be heard.”
― John Grisham

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

“I don't feel stupid, just inadequate. After three years of studying the law, I'm very much aware of how little I know.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“How could homosexuals possibly srew up the sanctity of marriage any worse than heterosexuals?”
― John Grisham, The Appeal

“And they drank heavily, partied with great enthusiasm, and relished the drug culture; they moved in and out and slept around, and this was okay because they defined their own morality. They were fighting for the Mexicans and the redwoods, dammit! They had to be good people!”
― John Grisham, The Brethren

“Life is short..Live to the fullest..”
― John Grisham, The Runaway Jury

“Please give me fifty more years of work and fun, then an instant death when I'm sleeping.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“In one long glorious acknowledgment of failure, he laid himself bare before God.”
― John Grisham, The Testament

“When witnesses concoct lies, they often miss the obvious.”
― John Grisham, The Testament

“All students enter law school with a certain amount of idealism and desire to serve the public, but after three years of brutal competition we care for nothing but the right job with the right firm where we can make partner in seven years and earn big bucks.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“I looked at her and tried to speak, but all I could think about was how shocked she'd be if I said what I was thinking.”
― John Grisham, A Painted House

“The coffee arrives, and we backslide into what lawyers do best---talking about other lawyers.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“He's my client, and he's counting on me. I'll take him, warts and all.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“You count the days and watch the years go by. You tell yourself, and you believe it, that you'd rather just die. You'd rather stare death boldly in the face and say you're ready because whatever is waiting on the other side has to be better than growing old in a six-by-ten cage with no one to talk to. You consider yourself half-dead at best. Please take the other half.

You've watched dozens leave and not return, and you accept the fact that one day they'll come for you. You're nothing but a rat in their lab, a disposable body to be used as proof that their experiment is working. An eye for an eye, each killing must be avenged. You kill enough and you're convinced that killing is good.

You count the days, and then there are none left. You ask yourself on your last morning if you are really ready. You search for courage, but the bravery is fading. When it's over, no one really wants to die.”
― John Grisham, The Confession

“I am currently reading, "The Broker" by John Grisham. it is alittle slow to start so I will have to let you know if it gets better”
― John Grisham

“The company later went broke, and of course all blame was directed at the lawyers. Not once did I hear any talk that maybe a trace of mismanagement could in any way have contributed to the bankruptcy.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“It's as if we spend our entire lives avoiding Jell-O but it is always there at the end, waiting.”
― John Grisham, Ford County

“I was tired of secrets, tired of seeing things I was not supposed to see. And so I just cried.”
― John Grisham, A Painted House

“The mother of a trophy wife is not automatically a trophy mother-in-law.”
― John Grisham, The Appeal

“judge not that ye be not judged”
― John Grisham, The Last Juror

“There are few things in life worse than a long-winded lawyer.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“The Senator did not know who owned the jet, nor had he ever met Mr. Trudeau, which in most cultures would seem odd since Rudd had taken so much money from the man. But in Washington, money arrives through a myriad of strange and nebulous conduits. Often those taking it have only a vague idea of where it's coming from; often they have no clue. In most democracies, the transference of so much cash would be considered outright corruption, but in Washington the corruption has been legalized. Senator Rudd didn't know and didn't care that he was owned by other people.”
― John Grisham, The Appeal

“We cuss them because we're not good enough for them. We hate them because they wouldn't look at us, couldn't be bothered to give us an interview. I guess there's a Trent & Brent in every city, in every field. I didn't make it and I don't belong, so I'll just go through life hating them.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“Shame was an emotion he had abandoned years earlier. Addicts know no shame. You disgrace yourself so many times you become immune to it.”
― John Grisham, The Testament

“Prisons are hate factories, Pastor, and society wants more and more of them.”
― John Grisham, The Confession

“Death row is a nightmare to serial killers and ax murderers. For an innocent man, it's a life of mental torture that the human spirit is not equipped to survive.”
― John Grisham, The Confession

“You burn a man's pickup, and he's ready for war.”
― John Grisham, The Confession

“Mr. Buckley, let me explain it this way. And I'll do so very carefully & slowly so that even you will understand it. If I was the sheriff, I would not have arrested him. If I was on the grand jury, I would not have indicted him. If I was the judge, I would not try him. If I was the D.A., I would not prosecute him. If I was on the trial jury, I would vote to give him a key to the city, a plaque to hang on his wall, & I would send him home to his family. And, Mr. Buckley, if my daughter is ever raped, I hope I have the guts to do what he did.”
― John Grisham

“She was pondering the option of law school, the great American baby-sitter for directionless postgrads.”
― John Grisham, The Runaway Jury

“Because I was single, there was a chance I was a homosexual. Because I went to Syracuse, wherever that was, then I was probably a Communist. Or worse, a Liberal. Because I was from Memphis, I was a subversive intent on embarrassing Ford County.”
― John Grisham, The Last Juror

“Ricky had taught me a few cuss words. I usually practiced them in the woods by the river, then prayed for forgiveness as soon as I was done.”
― John Grisham, A Painted House

“Four rehabs meant a fifth was somewhere down the road.”
― John Grisham, The Testament

“You advised him not to get a lawyer, giving as one of your reasons the opinion that lawyers are a pain in the ass. Gentlemen, the pain is here.
-Reggie Love”
― John Grisham, The Client

“It takes just one, he says over and over. You hear that all the time in this business. One big case, and you can retire. That's one reason lawyers do so many sleazy things, like full-color ads in the yellow pages, and billboards, and placards on city buses, and telephone solicitation. You hold your nose, ignore the stench of what you're doing, ignore the snubs and snobbery of big-firm lawyers, because it takes only one.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

“Life on the run was filled with dreams, some at night during sleep, real dreams, and some when the mind was awake but drifting. Most were terrifying, the nightmares of the shadows growing bolder and larger. Others were pleasant wishes of a rosy future, free of the past. These were rare, Patrick had learned. Life on the run was life in the past. There was no closure”
― John Grisham, The Partner

“I was on the verge of tears, so I turned and ran past the trailer and along the field road until I was safely out of their sight. Then I ducked into the cotton and waited for friendly voices. I sat on the hot ground, surrounded by stalks four feet tall, and I cried, something I really hated to do.”
― John Grisham, A Painted House

“He's a two-faced, cutthroat, dirt-dumb, chicken shit, slimy, little bastard with a bright future in politics.”
― John Grisham, The Confession

“It wouldn't pay to get fresh with a missionary.”
― John Grisham, The Testament

“The theory was simple: If a man had enough sense to accumulate a bunch of cash, then he would certainly make a worthy U.S senator.”
― John Grisham, The Client

“It's amazing how lies grow. You start with a small one that seems easy to cover, then you get boxed in and tell another one. Then another. People believe you at first, then they act upon your lies, and you catch yourself wishing you'd simply told the truth.”
― John Grisham, The Client

“Once again, I was reminded that Tally was the prettiest girl I'd ever met, and when she smiled at me my mind went blank. Once you've seen a pretty girl naked, you feel a certain attachment to her.”
― John Grisham, A Painted House

“The president had shifted to the 'we' mode now, something he invariably did when a potentially unpopular decision was at hand. For the easy ones, it was always 'I.' When he needed a crutch, and especially when he would need someone to blame, he opened up the decisionmaking process and included Critz.”
― John Grisham, The Broker

“Sounds awful."

"No, it's wonderful. And it's just for one year. Let's take a break. Blair's not here. she'll be back next year and we can jump back into the Christmas chaos, if that's what you want. Come on, Nora, please. We skip Christmas, save the money, and go splash in the Caribbean for ten days."

"How much will it cost?"

"Three thousand bucks."

"So we save money?"

"Absolutely."

"When do we leave?"

"High noon, Christmas Day."

They stared at each other for a long time.”
― John Grisham, Skipping Christmas