Erle Stanley Gardner Quotes & Sayings

Now listen, Lam," he said, "you're a nice egg but you've got yourself poured into the wrong pan. — Erle Stanley Gardner

You might be interested in his economic philosophy, Mr. Mason. He believed men attached too much importance to money as such. He believed a dollar represented a token of work performed, that men were given these tokens to hold until they needed the product of work performed by some other man, that anyone who tried to get a token without giving his best work in return was an economic counterfeiter. He felt that most of our depression troubles had been caused by a universal desire to get as many tokens as possible in return for as little work as possibly - that too many men were trying to get lost of tokens without doing any work. He said men should cease to think in terms of tokens and think, instead, only in terms of work performed as conscientiously as possible. — Erle Stanley Gardner

The best fighters don't worry about what the other man may do. And if they keep things moving fast enough, the other man is too busy to do much thinking. — Erle Stanley Gardner

When a man starts running away from things in life he builds up a whole chain of complexes and fear. — Erle Stanley Gardner

It's a damn good story. If you have any comments, write them on the back of a check. — Erle Stanley Gardner

The whole structure of the law has to be a dignified, imposing edifice and built on firm foundations, if it is going to stand. Whenever you violate the law, you are tearing down a part of that structure, regardless of what goal you may want to achieve. — Erle Stanley Gardner

I like what I like and not what I'm supposed to like because of mass rating. And I very much dislike the things I don't like. — Erle Stanley Gardner

I have never stuck up for any criminal. I have merely asked for the orderly administration of an impartial justice ... Due legal process is my own safeguard against being convicted unjustly. To my mind, that's government. That's law and order. — Erle Stanley Gardner

as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial. — Erle Stanley Gardner

Life is like that. We can only see from birth to death. The rest of it is cut from our vision." Drake — Erle Stanley Gardner

will-have a tendency to — Erle Stanley Gardner

The real trouble with the writing game is that no general rule can be worked out for uniform guidance, and this applies to sales as well as to writing. — Erle Stanley Gardner

The reason men don't know the law of life is because they're afraid to look Eternity in the face. — Erle Stanley Gardner

Married men get so they make a routine even of keeping a mistress — Erle Stanley Gardner

If you like the story then don't hold back in telling me about it, and if you don't then please keep your opinions to yourself! — Erle Stanley Gardner

It takes a powerful motivation to lead to murder. That's why people don't usually murder comparative strangers. — Erle Stanley Gardner

After you've written a story, the thing to do is sell it. Sounds simple, and it is, if one will follow certain basic principles of salesmanship. — Erle Stanley Gardner

We're a dramatic people," Perry Mason said slowly. "We're not like the English. The English want dignity and order. We want the dramatic and the spectacular. It's a national craving. We're geared to a rapid rate of thought. We want to have things move in a spectacular manner. — Erle Stanley Gardner

You can't have understanding without having empathy, and you can't have empathy without losing money. — Erle Stanley Gardner

Reason I am telling you all of this is that, according to Harrod, Fern Driscoll — Erle Stanley Gardner

Angeles in the plain-clothes division, — Erle Stanley Gardner

appraisal was evident in his glance. "Well, then," he said, "let's hear about — Erle Stanley Gardner

Clinton Foley is living?" "Of course he's living. He's living next door — Erle Stanley Gardner

There was that about her which indicated she was warily watchful. — Erle Stanley Gardner

A great believer in precedent,' Della Street said. 'I think if he were ever confronted with a really novel situation he'd faint. He runs to his law books, digs around like a mole and finally comes up with case that's what he calls on all fours and was decided seventy-five or a hundred years ago. — Erle Stanley Gardner

I take it," the lawyer remarked musingly, "patience isn't one of your virtues."
"I didn't know," she said, "that patience WAS a virtue. — Erle Stanley Gardner

Just because people are liars is no reason for us to be fools. — Erle Stanley Gardner

Courage is the antidote to danger. — Erle Stanley Gardner

Then I'll have more fun searching in vain then marrying one of the wrong sort. — Erle Stanley Gardner

To reach your goal, remember that courage is the only antidote for danger. — Erle Stanley Gardner