Quotes by Johnnie Cochran

Black jurors sit on juries every day and convict black people every day.
– Johnnie Cochran
I decided I wanted to be a lawyer when I was 11 years of age.
– Johnnie Cochran
I not here to say that every African-American descendent of slaves should receive 40 acres and, I guess now, a SUV. That should not happen. But there should be some compensation for those who are bottom-stuck by virtue of people who have been enslaved and then second-class citizens have had to go through.
– Johnnie Cochran
I understand about this idea of terror and what it means to Americans and this idea that we can't just walk around free like we did; life has changed.
– Johnnie Cochran
I'm a big believer in the fact that life is about preparation, preparation, preparation.
– Johnnie Cochran
If it doen't make sense, you should find for the defense.
– Johnnie Cochran
If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.
– Johnnie Cochran
In this room we're all here together, but there's probably a lot of different views, people sitting here thinking, I don't own any slaves, all the slaves are dead. Why am I responsible? My family were immigrants, too.
– Johnnie Cochran
It was time in America for African Americans to take retribution for the legal crimes that had been committed against them for almost three centuries.
– Johnnie Cochran
Money will determine whether the accused goes to prison or walks out of the courtroom a free man.
– Johnnie Cochran
On January 10, 1963, I was sworn in as a lawyer, so next January 10 I will have practiced law for 40 years, and I've loved every minute of it.
– Johnnie Cochran
Since the Puffy Combs case in New York, I will not try any more criminal cases.
– Johnnie Cochran
The only mention I'll make of the Simpson case is that it provided a sea-change for all of our lives. I'm still the same lawyer as I was before, but the opportunities were somewhat different and I was asked to move to New York, at least part of the time, to do a television show.
– Johnnie Cochran
The president appoints the judges. Your lives and your children's lives can change by all of these appellate court judges who will be appointed who will reinterpret laws, and things can change.
– Johnnie Cochran
We proved that the most important evidence against O.J. Simpson had supposedly been found in unusual places by a thoroughly racist LAPD detective-a detective who had been caught on audiotapes made years earlier admitting the LAPD planted evidence-a detective who for some unknown reason had been present in places he had no legitimate reason to be.
– Johnnie Cochran
We've got to be judged by how we do in times of crisis.
– Johnnie Cochran
When I first started practicing law in the 1960s, no person had ever won a case against the City of Los Angeles for violation of their civil rights. There came a time when I felt morally I just could not try these cases anymore. I then left the office and my time in private practice has been interesting to say the least.
– Johnnie Cochran