alt Hacker NewsAs Cardinal Richelieu famously said, “if you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.”
Replies
lesuorac • 11/21/2024
But you won't be able to _only_ use 6 lines from honest men. Their lawyer will produce the other ~300 lines of context.
dredmorbius • 11/24/2024
NB: That's attributed to Richelieu, and AFAIK it's not something specifically that he said, though it seems to be in the spirit of much of his practice.
Something of which I'm aware as I've featured precisely that quote on a number of my profiles across the Internet under this 'nym.
smsm42 • 11/23/2024
Good thing we're not in the absolutist monarchy now, and have such things as courts and laws.
This quote is frequently misinterpreted. It is not a comment on the mutability of language in general, it is a comment on centralized authoritarian power, which the Cardinal sought and wielded. Because he personally wielded so much power, he needed only the flimsiest excuse to condemn someone.
The U.S. legal system does not empower prosecutors in this way. They are free to provide quotes out of context, of course, but defense counsel are just as free to provide the missing context, and neither actually gets to make the decision to convict.