Paul Levine Quotes

#1. When there's a dead body in the room, you never, ever answer cops' questions without your lawyer present. Which is to say, your lawyer answers the questions by saying, We have nothing to say at this time.

Paul Levine

#2. Society's rules don't always work. They're limited by human frailty.

Paul Levine

#3. Yogi Berra reportedly said, It's not the heat, it's the humility.

Paul Levine

#4. A good lawyer is part con man, part priest
promising riches, threatening hell. My ethical rules are simple. I won't lie to the court or let a client do it. But I've never been in this position. How far would I go for a woman who mattered? Is there anything I wouldn't do to win?

Paul Levine

#5. In his dark suit, white shirt, and rep tie, he looked - and sounded - utterly professional. There was little chance he would make a mistake on direct or get tripped up on cross by a pettifogger, such as my own wily self.

Paul Levine

#6. Lately she'd been charting Bobby's moods like a meteorologist watching tropical storms. Something was bothering him, and he wasn't talking.

Paul Levine

#7. A shark without teeth is just a mermaid.

Paul Levine

#8. We all hold the keys to our own jail cells.

Paul Levine

#9. Always clear your mind after a bad play. Learn from your mistakes, but don't dwell on them.

Paul Levine

#10. Shakespeare said only our bad deeds live after us," Victoria, the smart one, said. "The good is oft interred with their bones.

Paul Levine

#11. I've never been disbarred, committed or convicted of moral turpitude, and the only time I was arrested, it was a case of mistaken identity ... I didn't know the guy I hit was a cop.

Paul Levine

#12. Add that to love, Mr. Lassiter. That's what we all need. Love and loyalty.

Paul Levine

#13. Straining to appear judicial, he turned toward the jury box. "The jurors shall disregard the last ... uh ... colloquy between the witness and defense counsel." Might as well ask the residents of Pompeii to ignore the volcano.

Paul Levine

#14. In the military, JAG lawyers switch sides. One day a prosecutor, the next day a defense lawyer. Maybe they should make civilian prosecutors do the same thing. Many are plagued with a disease I call emotional scurvy. Instead of lacking vitamin C, they've been shortchanged of empathy.

Paul Levine

#15. What do you think it's worth, Lassiter, finding and returning the priceless heritage of a nation?" "How about a Boy Scout merit badge and a thank-you note from Yeltsin?" Above us,

Paul Levine

#16. The people we've known the longest are often the people we know the least.

Paul Levine

#17. If they're still sullen and whiny when they pass nineteen, they probably always will be. Another half century of bitching and moaning about bosses and wives and how the other guys got all the luck. Riggs. Charlie Riggs.

Paul Levine

#18. Hey, it's Florida. Toss a beach ball at me, I'll empty my .45 into you and be home in time for Jimmy Kimmel.

Paul Levine

#19. Women, I have long believed, are the more evolved of the species and have attained some higher level of being.

Paul Levine

#20. I could be wrong, but she seemed to be one of those anti-gluten, pro-yoga, organic wine bar, Generation-Y echo boomers. A Gwyneth Paltrow type who would name her first daughter Persimmon or whatever.

Paul Levine

#21. Solomon's Laws:
8. If a guy who's smart, handsome, and rich invites you and your girlfriend to a nudist club ... chances are he's got a giant shmeckel.

Paul Levine

#22. She seemed to be one of those anti-gluten, pro-yoga, organic wine bar, Generation-Y echo boomers.

Paul Levine

#23. All of us live with our own demons, do penance in our private ways. We need our friends for support and advice, but we draw our strength from within.

Paul Levine

#24. I believe anybody with guts and brains who's willing to work hard can make it.

Paul Levine

#25. Modern life is one sweeping, cradle-to-grave invasion of privacy. An encroachment on our ever-narrowing space. Our footprints in the sand are a billion bytes on a thousand hard drives. Fodder for the snoop and the historian alike.

Paul Levine

#26. Cops and firemen are, without doubt, the horniest bastards on the planet.

Paul Levine

#27. Beatles. "All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.

Paul Levine

#28. What brings you happiness?" "Mr. Cohen . . ." "Benny." "Benny, I don't really think much about it. I just go about my life day to day. Stuff happens. Some good. Some bad. I don't know what's at the end of the rainbow, or even if there is a rainbow.

Paul Levine

#29. I'm a grinder. I am not called to speak at fancy conventions in five-star hotels. The governor has not offered me black robes and elevated me to the bench. I am not interviewed by CNN to comment on the latest trial of the century. And I am not rich.

Paul Levine

#30. T-shirt with the slogan Officer, I Swear to Drunk I'm Not God.

Paul Levine

#31. Subtlety sometimes eludes me. Why not just hit the nail on the head?

Paul Levine

#32. Granny said. Only fellow my age I know still got lead in his pencil.

Paul Levine

#33. Solomon's Laws
1. When the law doesn't work ... work the law.

Paul Levine

#34. I have a confession to make.
I hate voir dire.
I despise prying into other people's lives because I wouldn't want them prying into mine.

Paul Levine

#35. He pretended they were someone else's parents or recently released patients from a mental hospital who had arbitrarily chosen to root for him. Mainly, he figured they were a little goofy, but that was okay.

Paul Levine

#36. In my experience, honest people don't need to put their hand on a Bible to tell the truth, and with dishonest people, it makes no difference.

Paul Levine

#37. Sure. I've been involved with a couple women who should have been committed.

Paul Levine

#38. We keep looking for justice, but it's nothing but stormy nights and dark alleys out there.

Paul Levine

#39. She had tried running away from her problems but now knew she would have to face them.

Paul Levine

#40. Broiling Sunday afternoons in what I still call Joe Robbie Stadium.

Paul Levine

#41. All life is three-to-one against, boychik, but you beat the odds.

Paul Levine

#42. I don't tweet or blog or order pizza with arugula on top. You won't find my mug on Facebook or Instagram. I don't have a life coach, an aroma therapist, or a manicurist, and I sure as hell don't do Pilates.

Paul Levine

#43. I stood there, 220 pounds of ex-football player, ex-public defender, ex-a-lot-of-things, leaning against the faded walnut rail of the witness stand, home to a million sweaty palms. "To Speak for the Dead" (The Jake Lassiter Series)

Paul Levine

#44. Like a drowning man with a Styrofoam cooler.

Paul Levine

#45. I've been ridiculed by silk-suited lawyers, jailed by ornery judges, and occasionally paid for services rendered. I never intended to be a hero, and I succeeded.

Paul Levine

#46. Cited Riley versus California." "That's my girl! Cocounsel, I mean. Jeez, that case came down just in time! Unanimous. All nine justices. Cops need a warrant to search your cell phone.

Paul Levine

#47. T-shirt with the saying I May Be Old, but I Got to See All the Cool Bands.

Paul Levine