“A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect.”

—  Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott Collection Guy Mannering. Chap. xxxvii.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he…" by Walter Scott?
Walter Scott photo
Walter Scott 151
Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet 1771–1832

Related quotes

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“God is not some Aristotelian Unmoved Mover who merely contemplates upon himself. He is not merely a self-knowing God, but an other-loving God forever working through history for the establishment of His kingdom.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1950s, Give Us the Ballot (1957)
Context: I conclude by saying that each of us must keep faith in the future. Let us not despair. Let us realize that as we struggle for justice and freedom, we have cosmic companionship. This is the long faith of the Hebraic-Christian tradition: that God is not some Aristotelian Unmoved Mover who merely contemplates upon himself. He is not merely a self-knowing God, but an other-loving God forever working through history for the establishment of His kingdom.

Northrop Frye photo

“Man creates what he calls history as a screen to conceal the workings of the apocalypse from himself.”

Northrop Frye (1912–1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist

Source: "Quotes", The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (1982), Chapter Five, p. 136

G. I. Gurdjieff photo

“Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave.”

G. I. Gurdjieff (1866–1949) influential spiritual teacher, Armenian philosopher, composer and writer

In Search of the Miraculous (1949)

Miguel de Unamuno photo

“Every peasant has a lawyer inside of him, just as every lawyer, no matter how urbane he may be, carries a peasant within himself.”

Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher

Civilization is Civilism

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe photo
Thucydides photo
Thomas Carlyle photo

“He that works and does some Poem, not he that merely says one, is worthy of the name of Poet.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

Introduction to Cromwell's Letters and Speeches (1845).
1840s

Friedrich Nietzsche photo
Glen Cook photo

“He was a lawyer before he worked his way up to pimping.”

Source: The Black Company (1984), Chapter 1, “Legate” (p. 23)

Related topics