Preet Bharara > Quotes

“Self-doubt in moderation is animating and motivating, not paralyzing. Leaders who have purged themselves of all self-doubt will not be leaders for long and, in my view, are dangerous while in command. I learned, over time, that self-doubt is my friend, and arrogance my enemy.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“After all, every human being’s life in this world is inevitably mixed with every other life and, no matter what laws we pass, no matter what precautions we take, unless the people we meet are kindly and decent and human and liberty-loving, then there is no liberty. Freedom comes from human beings, rather than from laws and institutions.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“As the Roman senator Tacitus said, “Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Certain norms do matter. Our adversaries are not our enemies; the law is not a political weapon; objective truths do exist; fair process is essential in civilized society.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Freedom comes from human beings, rather than from laws and institutions.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“There was only one admonition and it was constant: Do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons. And do only that.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Go out there and try to be good. If you go out there and try to be good, you've got a chance to be great.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment and the Rule of Law

“One's understanding of the truth—whether that's the correctness of a fact or the guilt of a person—should never be unalterable. Think of a strongly held, defensible point of view as a block of ice, fixed and solid. When such views are well-founded, holding fast to them is commendable. But if new facts come to light—or new revelations materialize—then that block of ice should crack, melt, and even evaporate.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“The law is an amazing tool, but it has limits. Good people, on the other hand, don't have limits. The law is not in the business of forgiveness or redemption. The law cannot compel us to love each other or respect each other. It cannot cancel hate or conquer evil; teach grace or extinguish passions. The law cannot achieve these things, not by itself. It takes people -- brave and strong and extraordinary people.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“You can’t ever really know someone else’s mind or someone else’s heart, what someone else is capable of.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Much of what passes for argument in the public square these days would be laughed out of court.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“way: “I earned a degree in psychology in college before I earned my law degree. And I have found that in this job, which is all about motivating people to act better and modifying ordinary people’s behavior, I find myself relying much more on my psychology degree than on my law degree.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“I think too many people take advantage of their right to cloister, to live in their little echo chambers, to settle into small societies of like-minded souls, never taking the time to test and strengthen the rightness of their beliefs through searching inquiry, vigorous debate, and open dialogue. There is no such luxury at a criminal trial. There you cannot hide in your self-absorbed bunker, especially if you are the prosecutor. People are paid and obliged by oath and blessed by the Constitution. To do what? To attack every single allegation and argument you have made. And to do it with great zeal. So in that world you have to engage with your critics. And you must engage using facts, truth, and logic. You cannot just say, “I believe this” or “These are my alternative facts.” Honest engagement is the essence of the job. And it is the most exhilarating thing in the world. We malign lawyers as litigious and combative, often deservedly so, but I vastly prefer the spirit of respectful engagement and combat to what we have now in so many parts of society—siloed self-congratulation, self-affirmation, without risk of challenge or dissent or real and respectful debate.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Here’s what I think: if you are listening hard and if your dumb questions address the heart of the matter, it’s okay. They may betray ignorance, but also likely show the right focus. If you have a penchant for asking foundational questions that people think you should already know the answers to, so what? You are on the right track. Ignorance is quickly remedied. A tendency toward the tangential, the irrelevant, the collateral, is not so easily fixed. It is okay not to know things, so long as you want to know things, care to know things, and when those are the things you actually need to know. Curiosity and query are among the most important pillars of sound leadership.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“In the case of the People v. Henry Sweet, Darrow delivered one of the most beautiful summations ever spoken. He talked of course about the facts of the case and argued the law of self-defense. But he also talked about justice generally and spoke eloquently about the plight of black people, only recently officially liberated from slavery. He said of the African American, “The law has made him equal, but man has not. And, after all, the last analysis is, what has man done? And not what has the law done.” Ninety years later, that question remains relevant. Darrow also said this: After all, every human being’s life in this world is inevitably mixed with every other life and, no matter what laws we pass, no matter what precautions we take, unless the people we meet are kindly and decent and human and liberty-loving, then there is no liberty. Freedom comes from human beings, rather than from laws and institutions”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“people will regard a result as just if they regard the process leading to it as fair and if they believe the people responsible for it are fair-minded. It is often said that justice not only must be done but also must be seen to be done.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Darrow also said this: After all, every human being’s life in this world is inevitably mixed with every other life and, no matter what laws we pass, no matter what precautions we take, unless the people we meet are kindly and decent and human and liberty-loving, then there is no liberty. Freedom comes from human beings, rather than from laws and institutions.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“The fully evil man is rare. More often you find complex creatures capable of great kindness and charity, on the one hand, but also serious fraud and malice, on the other.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“as the Mayfield case teaches, reconsideration is difficult, while confirmation is easy. It is much more difficult to keep your mind open when someone else in the chain of command has put forth a credible conclusion, or when you have already decided a thing. Changing your mind is hard, especially if it means going against an expert or a higher-up.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Smart laws do not assure justice any more than a good recipe guarantees a delicious meal. The law is merely an instrument, and without the involvement of human hands it is as lifeless and uninspiring as a violin kept in its case. The law cannot compel us to love each other or respect each other. It cannot cancel hate or conquer evil; teach grace or extinguish apathy. Every day, the law’s best aims are carried out, for good or ill, by human beings. Justice is served, or thwarted, by human beings. Mercy is bestowed, or refused, by human beings.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“One of the most difficult—but most crucial—things to achieve, in the early stages of pursuing justice, is objectivity. Or as close as we can get to objectivity, which is probably simply separating facts from ego or some other bias.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Imagine if we had our entire criminal code and regulatory structure, but no Constitution. Every institution, whether it’s a country or a company, needs a charter of first principles that are everlasting—not just a hodgepodge and mishmash of bureaucratic rules and requirements that can be ignored with little or no consequence. Getting people to listen and report and sound alarms and seek advice requires more than email reminders; it entails understanding what motivates real people in real life, people with vulnerabilities and fears and biases and every other ordinary human failing and foible that can prevent us from doing the right thing.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Insisting that the evidence be relevant and that certain arguments are off-limits is vital to producing a just result. We blind you to irrelevancy to train your eyes on the truth.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“man who had given so much and helped so many. The fully evil man is rare. More often you find complex creatures capable of great kindness and charity, on the one hand, but also serious fraud and malice, on the other.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“You will not find God or grace in legal concepts, in formal notions of criminal justice. Certain values and ideals are beyond justice. These include mercy, forgiveness, redemption, dignity. Also love.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment and the Rule of Law

“The key is to make sure that prudent hesitation does not turn into paralysis and that responsible aggressiveness does not turn into recklessness.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“Getting people to listen and report and sound alarms and seek advice requires more than email reminders; it entails understanding what motivates real people in real life, people with vulnerabilities and fears and biases and every other ordinary human failing and foible that can prevent us from doing the right thing.”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law

“The moral quandary of fair and effective punishment, for example, is not unique to life-tenured jurists presiding over criminal cases. It will be familiar to many people—to the regulator who must penalize a rogue company; to the supervisor who must handle a misbehaving employee; and even to the parent who has to discipline an unruly child. What is proportional? What is effective? What will in the future deter that person specifically and everyone else generally? What action is sufficient but not greater than necessary?”
― Preet Bharara, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law