John Grisham Quotes
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I seriously doubt I would ever have written the first story had I not been a lawyer. I never dreamed of being a writer. I wrote only after witnessing a trial.
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I love piecing together intricate thoughts that people find compulsively readable and they can't put down.
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I learned that lesson a long time ago. When you write popular fiction you're going to get bashed by critics.
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There's always such a rush to judgment. It makes a fair trial hard to get.
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Most men cannot write good sex. I tried one time years ago and showed it to my wife, and she felt like laughing.
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I have learned not to read reviews. Period. And I hate reviewers. All of them, or at least all but two or three. Life is much simpler ignoring reviews and the nasty people who write them. Critics should find meaningful work.
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I used to walk in a bookstore and see all these books on the walls. And I would say, 'Who wants to hear from me? What do I have to add to all of this?'
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And that's the mission of The Innocence Project in New York, is to exonerate people who have been wrongfully convicted, and also work from a policy angle with Congress and state legislatures to prevent future wrongful convictions.
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Best-selling writers should go to bookstores to say thanks to the booksellers, to meet fans, sign autographs, sign books, talk, whatever.
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Quite often I can be in a bookshop, standing beneath a great big picture of myself and paying for a book with a credit card clearly marked John Grisham, yet no one recognises me. I often say I'm a famous author in a country where no one reads.
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We've sent 130 men to death row to be executed in this country, at least 130 that we know of, who have later have been exonerated because they were either innocent, or they were not fairly tried. That's 130 people that we've locked down on death row. And they've spent years there.
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There are always issues on the front page that need to be explored.
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That's the best way to practice law, is writing about it and not having to be in the courtroom!
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When you work at street level you never know who's going to walk through your door.
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Nobody wants to read about the honest lawyer down the street who does real estate loans and wills. If you want to sell books, you have to write about the interesting lawyers - the guys who steal all the money and take off. That's the fun stuff.
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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.
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We have the crime of the century every six months. So for people like me who enjoy, you know, taking these stories and writing about them, the material is endless.
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My name became a brand, and I'd love to say that was the plan from the start. But the only plan was to keep writing books. And I've stuck to that ever since.
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Writing's still the most difficult job I've ever had - but it's worth it.
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I've tried writing with music on, but I find it distracting.
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Sometimes I can tackle an issue -homelessness, tobacco litigation, insurance fraud, the death penalty - and wrap a good story around it. These are the best books, the ones with a story and a message.
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Every morning I wake at 6am or 6.30am, champing at the bit.
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Most criminal defendants do not get adequate representation because there are not enough public defenders to represent them. There is a lot that is wrong.
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I give off rather mixed messages about the law. On the one hand, I can honestly say I don't miss working in a law office. On the other hand I do enjoy watching the law and while the profession may have its problems, I have sold zillions of books out of magnifying them.