When writing that paper or legal brief, think about adding a quotation to emphasize your point or enliven your argument. The library has a number of books that compile legal quotations from a variety of sources - here are just a few:
Quote It Completely!: World Reference Guide to More Than 5,500 Memorable Quotations from Law and Literature includes quotations from legal literature and judicial decisions, with indexes by name, subject, and keyword. Sources range from the Code of Hammurabi and the Bible to Shakespeare and the English Yearbooks. When writing about defamation, this quote from Justice Benjamin Cardozo might provide useful: "Reputation...is a plant of tender growth, and its bloom, once lost, is not easily restored." People ex rel. Karlin v. Culkin (1928).
Over 2,500 quotes concerning the law are provided in The Quotable Lawyer, which includes quotations from jurists and lawyers as well as poets, playwrights, politicians, humorists, actors, and activists. The quotes are organized into chapters by topic and chronologically within each chapter. Why not use this gem from Sir Edward Coke in your next paper on corporate law: "Corporations cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicated, for they have no souls."Case of Sutton’s Hospital (1612).
The Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations provides over 3,500 quotations from American judges and legal commentators, as well as sayings from literature, humor, motion pictures, and songs. Its coverage extends from the Mayflower Compact to Clarence Thomas. This quote from Justice Louis Brandeis might come in handy if you are arguing on behalf of a not-so-virtuous client: "Equity does not demand that its suitors shall have led blameless lives." Loughran v. Loughran (1934).
The Wisdom of the Supreme Court includes more than 4,000 quotations from the reported opinions of the Supreme Court and other writings by those who have served as members. Its contents are arranged in alphabetical order by topic. You might want to work this quote by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. into that paper on torts: "When a man does the series of acts called walking, it is assumed for purposes of responsibility that he knows the earth is under his feet."The Common Law, 152-53.
