“Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for.”

This quote is from Ethel Lina White's The Wheel Spins (1936). It was popularized in the film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). In this film a similar line was spoken by "Jefferson Smith".
Misattributed

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 "Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for." by Clarence Darrow?
Clarence Darrow photo
Clarence Darrow 70
American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Li… 1857–1938

Related quotes

“Lost causes are the only causes worth fighting for.”

The Wheel Spins (1932), p 270.
A variation of this quote also appears in the film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Václav Havel photo

“The only lost cause is one we give up on before we enter the struggle.”

Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic

Quoted in Amnesty International's essay "From Prisoner to President – A Tribute" http://www.artforamnesty.org/aoc/biog_havel.html

Margaret Mitchell photo
Susan Elizabeth Phillips photo

“Anything worth having is worth fighting for.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Heaven, Texas

William Kristol photo

“I’d rather fight than switch. It’s worth fighting.”

William Kristol (1952) American writer

Twitter post https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1038771343918096385 (9 September 2018)
2010s, 2018

Albert Camus photo

“There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for.”

Albert Camus (1913–1960) French author and journalist

Widely attributed to Camus on the internet, the earliest attribution of such a statement to him yet located is an unsourced citation in Quotations from the Wayside (1999) by Brenda Wong: "Many things are worth dying for, but none worth killing for." The earliest occurrence yet located of such a statement, by anyone, is one by Albert Dietrich in a 31 January 1943 letter to his conscientious objector status Hearing Officer, reported in Army GI, Pacifist CO : The World War II Letters of Frank and Albert Dietrich (2005) https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3o4JN_C69VwC edited by Scott H. Bennett: "There are perhaps many causes worth dying for, but to me, certainly, there are none worth killing for."
Prior to the attribution to Camus, the most widely publicized occurrence of such an expression was probably in the song "Too Long A Soldier" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoQcU1ecPOc by Neil Giraldo and Myron Grombacher, sung by Pat Benatar on her album Wide Awake In Dreamland (1988): "I've seen so much worth dying for, so little worth killing over."
Misattributed

Robert Jordan photo

“There are things worth fighting for.”

Robert Jordan (1948–2007) American writer

Rand al'Thor
(15 October 1994)

Aristophanés photo

“Unjust Cause: This art is worth more than ten thousand staters, that one should choose the worse cause, and nevertheless be victorious.”

tr. Hickie 1853, vol. 1, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Cl.+1041
Clouds (423 BC)

Cassandra Clare photo

“If love is great, then it is worth fighting for.”

Source: Clockwork Angel

Related topics