Flesh and Bones Quotes

“Justice requires lawyers who are prepared, witnesses who tell the truth, judges who know the law, and jurors who stay awake. Justice is the North Star, the burning bush, the holy virgin. It cannot be bought, sold, or mass produced. It is intangible, ineffable, and invisible, but if you are to spend your life in its pursuit, it is best to believe it exists, and that you can attain it.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh & Bones

“A good lawyer is part con man, part priest -- promising riches, threatening hell. My ethical rules are simple. I won't lie to the court or let a client do it. But I've never been in this position. How far would I go for a woman who mattered? Is there anything I wouldn't do to win?”
― Paul Levine, Flesh & Bones

“Mr. Lassiter, you know better than that,” the judge said icily. He turned to the jury box. “The jury shall disregard Mr. Lassiter’s last statement.” I didn’t mind the instruction. In my experience, jurors forget most everything I say, except what the judge tells them to disregard.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“With women, my wiring shorts out. My senses respond to the physical and the chemical, the scent and sheen of her. Evil could not possibly reside in the form of this angel. Or could it? Sure, I'm politically incorrect. I admit it; I confess; guilty as charged. I am, Your Honor, the lowest of the species, still wet from the swamp, webbed feet fossilized in the mud. I am a Man!”
― Paul Levine, Flesh & Bones

“We unconsciously pick up the habits and attitudes, likes and dislikes, biases and tolerances of those who raise us.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“I am so far behind the trends that sometimes I’m back in fashion,”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“chasing. A retainer means “pay me now for work I may or may not do later.” Hourly bills are exercises in creative writing. Our “research time” gets us paid to learn what we should have known or to re-learn what we have forgotten.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“trial lawyer’s best friend, scurrilous innuendo.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“Chrissy let go and poured herself a cup of coffee. She didn’t light a cigarette. I’d been trying to get her to stop. I try to be a good influence on my clients. Don’t kill anyone else and please stop smoking.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“Objection! Repetitious.” Socolow was on his feet. “Sustained. Mr. Lassiter, I do think you’ve mined this ground.” “Thank you, Your Honor,” I said, bowing slightly, more to loosen up my back than pay homage to the judge.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“We get the idea from books and television that the courthouse is a theater, the trial a play. The better analogy is a huge tent with a three-ring circus inside. The judge is the ringmaster, wielding his chair, cracking his whip, forcing the lions onto their haunches in mock-serious poses of respect. We rise when the judge enters and exits, and we beg for permission before we speak. The judge feeds us when we are good, chastises us when we are bad, and either way we bow our heads in meek gratitude.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“I’d head to the Taurus, the only bar in the Grove that’s older than I am. It’s a brew-and-burger place in a quiche-and-cappuccino world, and I like it there. I’d have a couple of drafts, shoot some blow darts on the patio, tell harmless lies to various women, all the time wondering just what the hell was going on.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“Your friend has an odd sense of color combinations.” “The house belongs to an ex-cop,” I said, as if that explained it.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“A lawyer needs to know the truth. No, strike that. I can’t speak for my brethren. I need to know the truth.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“Stress! You been listening to them shrinks again? You didn’t hear anything about stress when I was a girl.” “When you were a girl, Freud wasn’t old enough to masturbate.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“Chrissy turned to me, leaned over, and gave me a peck on the cheek. “What’s that for?” I asked. “For being a man I can look up to without lying on my back.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“Let them see your joie de vivre. Let your beauty radiate outward like the rays of the sun, warming you with its breath, a lover’s kiss. The sun gives us hope, renewal . . .” “Cancer,” I added helpfully.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“The director was talking to Chrissy and gesturing with his hands. “It’s not merely suntan oil. It’s an attitude, a way of life. It makes you glow on the inside, as well as outside.” “Only if you drink it,” I said.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“I walked past her and into the little circle around Chrissy. My social standing had just improved by several strata.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“Damn poachers! And damn lawyers! Everybody wants something for nothing. But nothing worth having is free. Not water. Not mangoes. Not nothing. I’ve worked for everything I’ve got, Lassiter.” He fingered his earring with one hand and held the gun with the other.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“I couldn’t shake the feeling that Guy was more complicated than a good-ole-boy mango grower and Schein had more secrets than Freud’s Wolf Man.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones

“If you’re a lawyer in a TV show, you handle only one case at a time, wrap it up by the last pitch for Pepto-Bismol, after which you’re toting your briefcase down the courthouse steps with a beautiful client congratulating you for a wonderful job. Real life is different.”
― Paul Levine, Flesh and Bones