F. Lee Bailey Quotes

A person in the business of defending criminal cases is going to live in controversy all of his or her life.

The quality of news coverage has diminished, because giants of the print media are no longer being nurtured properly.

My experience is, people who retire die sooner than they should have.

The public regards lawyers with great distrust. They think lawyers are smarter than the average guy but use their intelligence deviously. Well, they're wrong. Usually they are not smarter.

When you see a lawyer trying to pick a smart jury, you know he's got a strong case.

Among the rednecks of America, which there are many more than people seem to realize, it was terribly damaging. I got blamed for O.J.'s acquittal.

Fear is something you have to throw into a corner. Constantly. Because it never goes away.

Most people think that 'I don't recall' is a clever answer. But it isn't that clever. You might not recall that you had bacon and eggs for breakfast- but if you killed your mother, you'll remember it.

I would strongly recommend any young man to stay away from criminal law. It's not a good place to be, unfortunately.

Each lawyer makes somebody unhappy either by beating him, embarrassing him or tying him in knots.

I enjoy personal injury cases. I've tried quite a few of those. And, frankly, any kind of litigation that is trouble-shooting, whether it's equities, suits and injunctions, or whatever.

The legal profession is a business with a tremendous collection of egos. Few people who are not strong egotistically gravitate to it.

I have never seen a major trial which lacked significant perjury, and I have yet to see that perjury punished.

The memory of the American public is about six weeks.

In America, an acquittal doesn't mean you're innocent, it means you beat the rap. My clients lose even when they win.

Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn't even get out of committee.

Justice Scalia is predictable. He can be counted on to come down with a conservative opinion, and generally, to bring Justice Clarence Thomas with him.

The people I have no feeling for are professional killers. But I count that man no worse than a governor who won't commute a death sentence because it's unpolitical.

I use the rules to frustrate the law. But I didn't set up the ground rules.

If I'm offered a good case in Florida or a good case somewhere else, South Florida will win every time.

I get paid for seeing that my clients have every break the law allows. I have knowingly defended a number of guilty men. But the guilty never escape unscathed. My fees are sufficient punishment for anyone.

I can get a firestorm going anywhere in the United States by saying 'O.J.'