Being a lawyer is not merely a vocation. It is a public trust, and each of us has an obligation to give back to our communities.
Janet Reno
I think lawyers who engage in pro bono service to protect those who cannot help themselves are truly the heroes and the heroines of the legal profession.
The keystone to justice is the belief that the legal system treats all fairly.
We've got to make sure that the young, violent, serious juvenile offender is punished, that it's fair punishment, that it's punishment that fits the crime and that is understood and that is anticipated and expected.
I have learned that raising children is the single most difficult thing in the world to do. It takes hard work, love, luck, and a lot of energy, and it is the most rewarding experience that you can ever have.
The good lawyer is the great salesman.
We're all in this together, and we all have to make an investment in our most precious possession and in the foundation of our future: our young people.
I think police officers can work with social workers and public health nurses to do so much in terms of addressing the problem of American families, of children in American families as a whole, and giving them an opportunity to get off to a fresh start, to become self-sufficient, to lead safe, constructive lives.
If the end brings me out right, what people said about me won't make any difference, and if the end brings me out wrong, 10 angels saying I was right won't make any difference.
This is a beautiful country. Each of us has a favorite river, a mountain, just a patch of sky for some of us. I want to use the law to make sure that the waters, the land, and the skies of this nation are protected.
Too many Americans mistrust their government. And unnecessary government secrecy feeds this mistrust.
I'm vitally interested in cyber crime and in preparing law enforcement for a time when crime is international in its origins and its consequences.
I worked with some wonderful people, tried my best and I feel comfortable.
We must honor, protect and support our police officers and their families every day of the year.
I would like to visit with people who are so interesting and so... and there are so many wonderful people out there that I would love to have the chance to talk to for a longer time.
A cop by themselves on every corner is not going to make that much difference.
I'm humbled by the honor that President Clinton has done me in nominatinq me as Attorney General of the United States, and I'm going to do my very best to deserve his confidence.
We recognize that violence is a learned behavior. One of the best classrooms for learning violence is in the home.
The first job I ever had in my life was in the Dade County Sheriff's Office in the Identification Bureau in the summer that I graduated from high school and was getting ready to go to college.
You are not going to put 100,000 police officers on the streets overnight and do the right job. To put them on the streets, to see that they're properly trained; you have to do it in an orderly way over a period of time.
I'm interested in elder justice and what we can do about elder abuse and neglect.
Draw great strength from your family and give in turn to those who come after you.
I think the answer to civil disorder in America, the answer to police problems in America, the answer to jail overcrowding and all the problems that we see is - the one answer is that government must go back to its people.
Under a death penalty statute that is going to stand up to constitutional muster, you look at the aggravating circumstances and the mitigating circumstances.
We want to continue the efforts against domestic violence and spread the drug courts, and develop real effective means of providing treatment for drug abusers without having to have them arrested.
We want to look at everything we can do that's right and proper under federal law, and with federal laws to see that the children of America are given a chance to grow as strong, constructive, healthy human beings. It's the best investment we can possibly make in America.
We've got to understand that the ages of zero to three are the most formative years of a person's life, the time they learn the concept of reward and punishment and develop a conscience, and that 50 percent of all learned human response is learned in the first year of life.
Until the day I die, or until the day I can't think anymore, I want to be involved in the issues that I care about.
One of the most important parts of my life has been community.
I think that affirmative action programs can be very important.
What makes our country unique is its commitment to being open, to making its leaders accountable.
I love lawyers. And I like to talk to lawyers, and I like to engage in a spirited discussion with lawyers.
People should look at the government as 'us,' not as 'them' and not in terror.
If you have a good community behind you and a good family supporting you, then, when the buck stops with you, there is the strength of that community and that family to draw upon.
I want to make sure there are no gatekeepers at the AG's door, and that anybody in the Department - they may have to come relatively late in the evening, just judging by the schedules to date - but if somebody has suggestions for how to make this a better department, that they know I am available.
My father was born in Denmark. He came to this country when he was 12 years old.
We tried our best for the longest time to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the matter, and at each step, we were thwarted by those that said, No, we will not turn the boy over to his father.
We're building on an international network with many others for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. There are so many things we can do to carry forward policies.
Though the Attorney General of the United States carries many responsibilities and undertakes many tasks, there can be none more important than the pursuit of civil rights on behalf of all the people of this country.
I'm not fancy. I'm what I appear to be.
Do and act on what you believe to be right, and you'll wake up the next morning feeling good about yourself.
I would like to explore and see this country. I have had so many opportunities to see it from the air! I would like to climb the mountains that I wished I could climb at the time but had to get back to Washington.
The Justice Department is staunchly committed to ensuring that all Americans are treated in a fair and just manner.
One of the problems in America is that everybody focuses on their own narrow little bit of the problem without connecting punishment and prevention together, without connecting the schools and the police together, without connecting the pediatricians and the social workers together.
The law is very special to me.
I made a promise to myself when I graduated from law school that I would never do anything that I didn't enjoy doing, and almost every day of the year since that June of 1963, I have awakened glad that I was going to work, glad that I was going to court, glad that I was going to grapple with a problem.
Lawyers are very important people to me.
Juveniles as well as adults need to know they're going to be punished for their violent acts.
The president really shouldn't be involved in terms of dictating what course the investigation should take.
Schools can do extraordinary things given the chance; teachers can do remarkable things if we eliminate the paperwork that sometimes binds them and give them a chance to really teach in our schools.
