- Bryan Stevenson: I came out of law school with grand ideas in my mind about how to change the world. But Mr. McMillian made me realize we can't change the world with only ideas in our minds. We need conviction in our hearts. this man taught me how to stay hopeful, because I now know that hopelessness is the enemy of justice. Hope allows us to push for word, even when the truth is distorted by the people in power. It allows us to stand when they tell us to sit down, and to speak when they say be quiet.
- Bryan Stevenson: [in the US Senate Hearing on the Death Penalty] Through this work, I've learned that each of us is more than the worst thing that we've ever done; that the opposite of poverty isn't wealth, the opposite of poverty is justice; that the character of our nation isn't reflected on how we treat the rich and the privileged, but how we treat the poor, the disfavored, and condemned.
- Bryan Stevenson: The first time I visited Death Row, I wasn't expecting to meet someone the same age as me... from a neighborhood just like ours coulda been me.
- Eva Ansley: [after someone threatened to blow up her house with a bomb] Maybe people will stop tryin' to kill us once they realize how charming we are.
- Bryan Stevenson: There's always something we can do. Whatever you did, your life is still meaningful.
- Anthony Ray Hinton: [to Walter on his potential execution] You know what they said to me when they pulled me over... one of you niggers did it and... if you didn't then you're taking one for your homies