I’m a criminal in that movie. Don’t they realize that?

— Michael Douglas, of Wall Street types who hero-worship his Gordon Gekko character, toThe New York Times.

Had Marilyn Monroe’s film been called ‘How to Register a Domestic Partnership with a Millionaire,’ it would not have conveyed the same meaning.
— Ninth Circuit, invalidating California’s Proposition 8.

It is almost embarrassing to be doing it.
— Florida Supreme Court Justice Fred Lewis on accepting support from “super-PACs” in his merit retention race. He and two colleagues beat back Republican-backed efforts to turn them out of office.


Being in the Bible Belt cost my client and her sons $2 million.
— Atlanta attorney Roderick Edmond, who thought a medical malpractice jury awarded less money because the victim suffered a fatal heart attack during adulterous three-way sex.


What people call genocide in my country is just the judicial system in Texas.
— Sacha Baron Cohen, in character as North African despot Admiral General Aladeen, from his movie The Dictator.


I would not.
— Michael Trotter of Atlanta’s Taylor English Duma, asked by The New York Times whether he would encourage his grandchildren to go to law school, given the state of the profession.
 

Just because someone is a rapist doesn’t mean they can’t be a good father.
— Skadden Arps associate Shauna Prewitt, describing some judges’ attitude toward assailants’ parental rights. In response to the “forcible rape” controversy, she described conceiving a baby through rape and having to fight her attacker for custody.


Who knew the key to stopping the Surveillance State was just to wait until it got so big that it ate itself?
— Trevor Timm of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, referring to the CIA-Pentagon sex scandal.


It’s perfectly legal to be a bigot and to be racist.
— Muneer Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations after a court prevented New York transit officials from banning ads, widely considered anti-Muslim, urging people to “Defeat Jihad.”


A monsignor is, I guess, a start.
— Writer Andrew Sullivan after Monsignor William Lynn was sentenced to at least three years in prison for failure to protect children from sexually abusive Roman Catholic priests. He argues that higher church authorities also should be held accountable for such abuse.


I also share your belief that weapons that were designed for soldiers in war don’t belong on our streets.
— President Obama, responding to a voter’s question during the second debate.


This is crazy, but you can’t be upset because it’s not normal.
— Kew Gardens, N.Y., solo Leonard Ressler of the disruptions caused by Hurricane Sandy.


I hope this sends a clear message.
— Attorney General Eric Holder, announcing that BP PLC would pay the government $4.5 billion in civil and criminal sanctions for the Deepwater Horizon disaster.


Greed isn’t good, and neither is trading on inside information.
— FBI assistant director Mary Galligan, regarding two law students accused of insider trading ahead of a $1.2B IBM acquisition, to The Wall Street Journal.