So I Said

By Gerry Spence

The collected sayings of Gerry Spence prods readers into thinking about their own vision of the world. As a lawyer with decades of experience in defending the defenseless, he's fought against giants. His insights provide a grander vision of how the nearly invisible world of the justice system.

What might an old lawyer who still defends cases have to say? Aren't all lawyers the same, where they live only for the money? This book allows you to look inside and see what one particular attorney is all about. Some of his thoughts are contradictory, others are inspiring, and some are garnered from years of experience. Touch your heart and mind with this book.

Quotes from So I Said

"That enigmatic trap called life: You don't know where you came from, and you don't know where you're going, and you can't get out alive. And concerning this mystery: you don't know the right questions to ask."

"Once slavery in America was not seen as radical. It became, instead, a revolutionary idea that slaves should be freed. When we have lived under a pernicious power long enough, no matter how oppressive, we grow so accustomed to the yoke that its removal seems frightening, even wrong."

This book is filled with the thought-provoking words of America's most famous attorney. Venture into the mind of Gerry Spence. Yours will be broadened, enlightened, and entertained at the same time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sastrugi Press
• Release date: Jun 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386186137

Gerry Spence

Gerry Spence is the author of twelve nonfiction books, including the New York Times bestsellers How to Argue and Win Every Time and Give Me Liberty!, and the legal thriller Half Moon and Empty Stars. He has brought his legal insight and expertise to many television and radio shows, including Oprah, 60 Minutes, and Larry King Live. He has never lost a criminal jury trial, and has not lost any trial, criminal or civil, since 1969. Spence is the founder of the nonprofit trial lawyers college and a well-known national television commentator on the justice system. He lives with his wife in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Visit his website at www.gerryspence.com.

Book preview

Introduction

Have you ever had a conversation with a lost butterfly?

This book is a collection of sayings by Gerry Spence, the famous trial lawyer. It’s about the ins-and-outs of life—about living and loving and struggling and dying, and it’s presented in short, pithy adages that Spence has authored over the years and that have been borrowed from his many works. And some just fluttered down out of the blue like a lost butterfly.

Spence is an old man. He was old before most of you were born, and he’s still hanging around at eighty-nine. If an old man is lucky, the words that escape his weathered lips make sense. If they make sense, someone might claim that his words are wise, or clever, or revealing, or one might respond, I never thought of that, which doesn’t mean what was said was prophetic or judicious or even relevant. Jesus said, Love one another. Simple. A perfect way of life in three words. But it appears that one has to be crucified in order for such words to become immortal. Crucifixion, we’re told, is not a part of Spence’s life plan.

So who is this old man who offers up this book of his sayings? Why should we listen to him? What has he done? Is he famous? Or is he some toothless old wretch sitting on a curb somewhere jabbering into the air? Good questions. In truth, wisdom can be gleaned from any source if we are wise enough to catch it, chew it, and digest it.

For most of his life, Spence has been a trial lawyer fighting in our courts across the land for people—only people—mostly the poor, the lost, the forgotten, and