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All students enter law school with a certain amount of idealism and desire to serve the public, but after three years of brutal competition we care for nothing but the right job with the right firm where we can make partner in seven years and earn big bucks.
John Grisham
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the transition from idealism to pragmatism among law students, highlighting how competition can shift priorities.

John Grisham's quote articulates the journey of law students who initially enter their studies with noble intentions of serving the public. However, the intense competition and pressures of law school often lead them to prioritize securing lucrative positions at prestigious firms over their initial ideals, showcasing a common shift from idealism to practicality.

Themes

Law SchoolIdealismCompetitionCareerSuccess

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used during a law school orientation to remind students to keep their initial motivations in mind.

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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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Death row is a nightmare to serial killers and ax murderers. For an innocent man, it's a life of mental torture that the human spirit is not equipped to survive.
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An outline is crucial. It saves so much time. When you write suspense, you have to know where you're going because you have to drop little hints along the way. With the outline, I always know where the story is going. So before I ever write, I prepare an outline of 40 or 50 pages.
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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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Writing's still the most difficult job I've ever had - but it's worth it.
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Ten years from now I plan to be sitting here, looking out over my land. I hope I'll be writing books, but if not, I'll be on my pond fishing with my kids. I feel like the luckiest guy I know.
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