All the Lonely People

Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.

—Aristotle: Politics

What distinguishes this book and those that follow and what makes them classics of a kind is this marvellous quality of compassion and the celebration of all that is heroic in the corrupted ordinary. Devlin and his author love and forgive their clients and their friends even when they hate them, and that is the lot of the humane man. You don’t stop loving people because aren’t nice and you can’t stop loyalty if it happens to be in your blood.

Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.

Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.

don’t stop loving people because aren’t nice and you can’t stop loyalty if it happens to be in your blood.

you can’t stop loyalty if it happens to be in your blood.

You don’t stop loving people because aren’t nice and you can’t stop loyalty if it happens to be in your blood.

He deals in litter and detritus; his judgement is not always sound and he knows the symptoms of loneliness like the noise of his own breath.