Top 200 John Grisham Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “The company later went broke, and of course all blame was directed at the lawyers. Not once did I hear any talk that maybe a trace of mismanagement could in any way have contributed to the bankruptcy.”

— John Grisham

102. “I was a lawyer for 10 years, and several of my clients had the misfortune, through no fault of my own, of going to prison. I visited them occasionally.”

— John Grisham

103. “Hearing the truth is like grabbing smoke in our family,” Joel said.”

— John Grisham

104. “He made a mistake, one that would send him to death row and eventually cost him his freedom for life.”

— John Grisham

105. “I always do book signings with the same blue pen. That way, if I add a personalised message to a book I’ve already signed, it’ll be in the same colour as my signature.”

— John Grisham

106. “I needed forgiveness, because there were lots of sins in my past. I needed peace, because I’d been at war my entire life. I needed love, because I hated everybody. I needed strength, because deep inside I knew how weak I was. I needed happiness, because I’d been miserable for so long.”

— John Grisham

107. “Because I was single, there was a chance I was a homosexual. Because I went to Syracuse, wherever that was, then I was probably a Communist. Or worse, a Liberal. Because I was from Memphis, I was a subversive intent on embarrassing Ford County.”

— John Grisham

108. “How could homosexuals possibly srew up the sanctity of marriage any worse than heterosexuals?”

— John Grisham

109. “Theo explained, in what he thought was perfect Spanish, that Julio needed extra help with his algebra. Evidently, she did not understand perfect Spanish because she asked Julio what Theo was talking about.”

— John Grisham

110. “Our clients are our only assets, so we kill ourselves for them.”

— John Grisham

111. “He hadn’t hit her in several years, but when you’ve been beaten you never forget it. The bruises go away but the scars remain, deep, hidden, raw. You stay beaten. It takes a real coward to beat a woman.”

— John Grisham

112. “Guilt beyond a reasonable doubt means if he probably did it, then let’s get him off the streets.”

— John Grisham

113. “There’s an old adage in bad trial lawyering that when you don’t have the facts, do a lot of yelling.”

— John Grisham

114. “Ricky had taught me a few cuss words. I usually practiced them in the woods by the river, then prayed for forgiveness as soon as I was done.”

— John Grisham

115. “A preconceived conclusion can exist and slant the findings toward that suspect.”

— John Grisham

116. “Since 1990, Oklahoma has executed more convicts on a per capita basis than any other state. No place, not even Texas, comes close.”

— John Grisham

117. “But a year in jail for an innocent man is pure luck in our system.”

— John Grisham

118. “I did manage to ditch my prologue add quotation marks to my dialogue, take out the big words, and I would have cut some more but there’s not enough to cut.”

— John Grisham

119. “I was a lawyer for 10 years – a short time, but it molded me into who I am. My clients were little people fighting big corporations, so it was a natural thing to not only represent the little guy but also to pull for him – it’s the American way.”

— John Grisham

120. “He was neutral on prayer, skeptical of free speech, sympathetic to tax protestors, indifferent to Indians, afraid of blacks, tough on pornographers, soft on criminals, and fairly consistent in his protection of the environment.”

— John Grisham

121. “We like to say that skin color doesn’t matter, but that’s not always true. We often use it to open doors.”

— John Grisham

122. “The relief came from the sudden realization that she had just been freed from a job she despised.”

— John Grisham

123. “I had never seen a woman’s breasts before, and I doubted if any seven-year-old boy in Craighead County had. Maybe some kid had stumbled upon his mother, but I was certain no boy my age had never had this view.”

— John Grisham

124. “They were dumbfounded. The man was thoroughly incapable of admitting a mistake or grasping the reality of the situation.”

— John Grisham

125. “It’s as if we spend our entire lives avoiding Jell-O but it is always there at the end, waiting.”

— John Grisham

126. “I learned a long time ago not to waste time analyzing why judges do the things they do.”

— John Grisham

127. “Rich folks can tolerate almost anything, but not rejection.”

— John Grisham

128. “I was guilty all right. Guilty of stupidity for allowing myself to fall into such a mess.”

— John Grisham

129. “As in any war, the truth is the first casualty. I.”

— John Grisham

130. “In white America, prisons are good places where bad men pay for their crimes. In black America, they are too often used as warehouses to keep minorities off the streets. Otis.”

— John Grisham

131. “Those pricks down at the Rotary Club and the church and the coffee shop will not make you a lawyer and will not make you a dime.” And, “To be a real lawyer, first you grow a thick skin, and second you tell everybody but your clients to go to hell.” And, “A real lawyer is not afraid of unpopular cases.”

— John Grisham

132. “Hopt v. Utah, the Supreme Court ruled that a confession is not admissible if it is obtained by operating on the hopes or fears of the accused, and in doing so deprives him of the freedom of will or self-control necessary to make a voluntary statement.”

— John Grisham

133. “For her, the holidays began in late October and steadily gathered momentum until the big bang, a ten-hour marathon on Christmas Day with four meals and a packed house.”

— John Grisham

134. “If a prosecutor gets caught cheating, he either gets reelected or elevated to the bench. Our system never holds a bad prosecutor accountable.”

— John Grisham

135. “And you’ve never been married, right?” “Correct.” “Well, I’ve tried it twice and I’m not sure I can recommend it.”

— John Grisham

136. “Maybe you should be a lawyer.” “I can’t think of anything worse.”

— John Grisham

137. “Since most law-abiding citizens had no contact with the parole system, it was not a priority with the state legislatures. And since most of the state’s prisoners were either poor or black, and unable to use the system to their advantage, it was easy to hit them with harsh sentences and keep them locked up. But for an inmate with a few connections and some cash, the parole system was a marvelous labyrinth of contradictory laws that allowed the Parole Board to pass out favors.”

— John Grisham

138. “I believe in God,” he said, truthfully but weakly. “It’s easy to say that,” she said, her words still slow and soft. “And I don’t doubt you. But saying is one thing, living is another matter.”

— John Grisham

139. “SUDDEN AFFLUENCE triggers a desire for the better things in life.”

— John Grisham

140. “But most Christians I know are quite good at cherry-picking their way through the Holy Scriptures.”

— John Grisham

141. “I had a long night, too much to drink, too much to eat, a rather nasty cigar, and I slept on the porch like a dead man until a really big cat pounced on my chest at three in the morning and scared the hell out of me. How was I to know it was his rocker?”

— John Grisham

142. “I thought they were honest.’ ‘They are, but they’re bankers, remember.”

— John Grisham

143. “Four months ago, he had a mild heart attack and his doctor told him to retire. He found another doctor.”

— John Grisham

144. “This is a free country... you can do almost anything you want.”

— John Grisham

145. “These are mistakes, not regrets. Regrets are over and done with and a waste of time to rehash. Mistakes, though, are bad moves in the past that might affect the future.”

— John Grisham

146. “If the cops can’t convict with evidence, they use the media to convict with suspicion.”

— John Grisham

147. “Like so many, this trial is not about the truth; it’s about winning.”

— John Grisham

148. “But such a cheap shot from a sibling can never be left alone.”

— John Grisham

149. “I earned my first steady paycheck watering rose bushes at a nursery for a dollar an hour.”

— John Grisham

150. “Rejection comes easy, because you learn quickly that the worst thing that can happen is to hear the word “no.”

— John Grisham