“What use is an honest lawyer when what you need is a dishonest one?”

—  Eric Ambler

The Seige of the Villa Lipp (1977)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Aug. 10, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "What use is an honest lawyer when what you need is a dishonest one?" by Eric Ambler?
Eric Ambler photo
Eric Ambler 2
author 1909–1998

Related quotes

Charles Bowen photo

“An honest blunder in the use of the language is not dishonest… What is honest is not dishonest.”

Charles Bowen (1835–1894) English judge

Angus v. Clifford (1891), 60 L. J. Rep. (N. S.) C. D. 456.

Abraham Lincoln photo

“There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal. Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief — resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Fragment, Notes for a Law Lecture (1 July 1850), cited in Abraham Lincoln: Complete Works, Comprising his Speeches, Letters, State Papers, and Miscellaneous Writings, Vol. 2 (1894)
1850s

Linus Torvalds photo

“I realize that lawyers are brought up (probably from small children) to think that "technically true" is what matters, but when you make public PR statements, they should be more than "technically" true. They should be honest. There's a big f*cking difference.”

Linus Torvalds (1969) Finnish-American software engineer and hacker

Linus Torvalds - Google+, Torvalds, Linus, 2013-01-17, 2013-01-20 https://plus.google.com/u/0/102150693225130002912/posts/ggzfzKyrcRQ,
2010s, 2013

Oliver Wendell Holmes photo

“When lawyers take what they would give
And doctors give what they would take.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) Poet, essayist, physician

Latterday Warnings; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Hal Clement photo

“What’s the use of a high school education if you can’t recall it when needed later on?”

Hal Clement book Mission of Gravity

Source: Mission of Gravity (1954), Chapter 14

Ferdinand Lundberg photo

“Apologists for the profession contend that lawyers are as honest as other men, but this is not very encouraging.”

Ferdinand Lundberg (1905–1995) American journalist

quoted in Stan D. Ross' The Joke's On... Lawyers https://books.google.com/books?id=uNt90TeLOxgC&pg, p. 43 (Federation Press, 1996)

Alexander Mackenzie photo

“S. H. Blake (prominent Ontario Lawyer, Judge)– “God give us more such as he was, honest and true.” (Buckingham and Ross 1892, p. 639)”

Alexander Mackenzie (1822–1892) 2nd Prime Minister of Canada

His Character

Joel Osteen photo

“When you face adversity, you need to remind yourself that whatever is trying to defeat you could very well be what God will use to promote you.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

Šantidéva photo

“If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying?
If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?”

Šantidéva (685–763) 8th-century Indian Buddhist monk and scholar

Attributed

Related topics