Gerald Leonard Spence is a semi-retired American trial lawyer. He is a member of the American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. Spence has never lost a criminal case either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney. He has not lost a civil case since 1969. Wikipedia
“I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.”
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 6 : The Power of Prejudice : Examining the Garment, Bleaching the Stain, p. 98
Source: How to Argue & Win Every Time: At Home, At Work, In Court, Everywhere, Everyday
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 6 : The Power of Prejudice : Examining the Garment, Bleaching the Stain, p. 92
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 7 : The New Slave Master, p. 71
“Money in doses disproportionate to our needs enslaves.”
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 17 : Success Redefined, p. 192
Source: From Freedom to Slavery (1996), Ch. 6 : The New King : Tyranny of the Corporate Core, p. 88
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 6 : The Power of Prejudice : Examining the Garment, Bleaching the Stain, p. 74
“We cannot, as a people, remain mute and free.”
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 19 : The Benevolent Dictator, p. 233
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 20 : The Media : The Perpetual Voice of the Master, the Abiding Ear of the Slave, p. 243. Dream 7 : A Propaganda for People, Not Things
“Corporations do not make up this country, people do.”
As quoted in "Gerry Spence, Attorney At Lore" by Thomas Heath, in The Washington Post (6 September 1995) https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/09/06/gerry-spence-attorney-at-lore/1bee185b-af93-4bf3-bb46-4a4ed728c196/
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 21 : The Theft of Our Voice, p. 258
Context: The Internet has become the phenomenon of the new century. It has become the voice of the people in the first genuine experiment in democracy yet conducted in America. It stands ready to serve every facet, every faction. It creates neighbors where once we were foreigners. It carries our individual voices to new communities formed through the magic of electronics.
The electronic village has been born, and the village voice, via the internet is being heard.
Source: From Freedom to Slavery (1996), Ch. 6 : The New King : Tyranny of the Corporate Core, p. 91
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 1 : We, the People, the New American Slaves, p. 8
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 14 : The Magical Weapon : Withholding Permission to Be Defeated, p. 160
Context: Teach the child to respect that which is not respectable and you teach the child the first requirement of slavery: submission to unjust authority. Children are persons. They are small persons whose perfect souls have not yet been ground through the meat grinder of slavery.
“The gift of self cannot be given to us. It is an incomparable gift that has already been given.”
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 9 : Empowering the Self, p. 118
Context: The gift of self cannot be given to us. It is an incomparable gift that has already been given. We have possessed it from the beginning.
“Use simple words, words that create pictures and action and that generate feeling.”
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 7 : The Power of Words, p. 104
Context: 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.
“Power can win the body count but it cannot win this war.”
On the war against terrorism
Have We Already Been Defeated? (2001)
Context: Power can win the body count but it cannot win this war. Because the enemy is not human. This is a war against a malicious spirit. Only fools attempt to defeat a spirit with guns and rockets and bombs.
“To freely bloom — that is my definition of success.”
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 14 : Arguing with Kids, p. 255
Context: To freely bloom — that is my definition of success.
The question then is, How does arguing with our children advance our goal that our children freely bloom.
Have We Already Been Defeated? (2001)
Context: The goal of a free nation is to reveal by example the enlightened possibilities of the human race, not to wield its power of destruction and death over the helpless, the poor, the starving and the war torn masses. The goal of a free nation must be no different outside its borders than within them. In America we do not massacre whole towns because they may be the chosen domicile of a criminal or a conspiracy of criminals. Instead we carefully root out the felons and bring them to justice.
“Today the insatiable quest for profit promotes the new slavery.”
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 2 : Man, the Enslaving Animal, p. 22
Context: Today the insatiable quest for profit promotes the new slavery. In bewildering ways, the new is more pernicious than the old, for the New American Slave is told he is free, and he clings to that myth as if his life depended upon it, a suspicion that cannot be totally ignored.
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 17 : Success Redefined, p. 178
Context: The new and most powerful union of all will be a union of one — one man, one woman, one worker with special skills, an inquiring mind, and an independent attitude, his creativity intact, his love of life blooming. The union of one will be peopled by one man or one woman who is alive. Such a person is always sought by the intelligent manager.
“There are no rules that say lawyers cannot write or speak from their heart.”
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 7 : The Power of Words, p. 104
Context: There are no rules that say lawyers cannot write or speak from their heart. Passion has never been formally outlawed, although it is a little-known experience among most lawyers and nearly all academicians.
Getting Started, p. 5
How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995)
Context: While birds can fly, only humans can argue. Argument is the affirmation of our being. It is the principal instrument of human intercourse. Without argument the species would perish. As a subtle suggestion, it is the means by which we aid another. As a warning, it steers us from danger. As exposition, it teaches. As an expression of creativity, it is the gift of ourselves. As a protest, it struggles for justice. As a reasoned dialogue, it resolves disputes. As an assertion of self, it engenders respect. As an entreaty of love, it expresses our devotion. As a plea, it generates mercy. As charismatic oration it moves multitudes and changes history. We must argue — to help, to warn, to lead, to love, to create, to learn, to enjoy justice — to be.
Getting Started, p. 5
How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995)
Context: While birds can fly, only humans can argue. Argument is the affirmation of our being. It is the principal instrument of human intercourse. Without argument the species would perish. As a subtle suggestion, it is the means by which we aid another. As a warning, it steers us from danger. As exposition, it teaches. As an expression of creativity, it is the gift of ourselves. As a protest, it struggles for justice. As a reasoned dialogue, it resolves disputes. As an assertion of self, it engenders respect. As an entreaty of love, it expresses our devotion. As a plea, it generates mercy. As charismatic oration it moves multitudes and changes history. We must argue — to help, to warn, to lead, to love, to create, to learn, to enjoy justice — to be.
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 12 The Unbeatable Power Argument : Delivering the Knockout p. 191
Context: The power argument is an argument so powerful in its structure, so compelling in its delivery that when we assume the power stance the argument cannot be defeated. The power argument need not fill the air with noise. It need not create pandemonium. It need not destroy the opponent. It can be quiet. Gentle. It can embrace love, not anger, understanding, not hate.
“If I am real, if I am speaking from the heart zone, the right words will come.”
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 7 : The Power of Words, p. 104
Context: If I am real, if I am speaking from the heart zone, the right words will come. They will come a spoonful at a time, in the proper mixture.
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 7 : The New Slave Master, p. 89
Ah, the mother whose gift to the world is a person!
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 17 : Success Redefined, p. 194
“Prejudice locks the mind. Nothing can enter. Nothing true can escape.”
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 6 : The Power of Prejudice : Examining the Garment, Bleaching the Stain, p. 74
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 26 : Free at Last, p.331
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 16 : Security, the One-Way Ticket to Slavery, p. 174
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 20 : The Media : The Perpetual Voice of the Master, the Abiding Ear of the Slave, p. 236
Source: From Freedom to Slavery (1996), Ch. 6 : The New King : Tyranny of the Corporate Core, p. 90
“We are defined by how we use our power.”
"The Rat Hole" (25 December 2003) http://www.gerryspence.com/the-rat-hole/
“The less of one's life one must exchange for money, the more freedom one may enjoy.”
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 17 : Success Redefined, p. 197
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 14 : The Magical Weapon : Withholding Permission to Be Defeated, p. 163
“The stain of prejudice is often indelible.”
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 6 : The Power of Prejudice : Examining the Garment, Bleaching the Stain, p. 92
“How much of our lives could we buy back if we cherished our lives instead of our trinkets?”
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 17 : Success Redefined, p. 199
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 6 : The Power of Prejudice : Examining the Garment, Bleaching the Stain, p. 74
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 7 : The New Slave Master, p. 79
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 9 : Empowering the Self, p. 117
Our Cry for Liberty, p. xv
Give Me Liberty! (1998)
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 15 : Black and White Together, p. 168
As quoted in Humanscape : Environments for People (1987), by Rachel Kaplan and Stephen Kaplan, p. 97
“Everyone wants to argue. Everyone does. Everyone needs to.”
Getting Started, p. 5
How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995)
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 7 : The New Slave Master, p. 89
Source: How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995), Ch. 12 The Unbeatable Power Argument : Delivering the Knockout p. 196
