You don't teach morals and ethics and empathy and kindness in the schools. You teach that at home, and children learn by example.

I don't have two different personalities. I am what I am.

Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

Don't try to teach a pig to sing. It doesn't work, and it annoys the pig.

If you take control over those things you can, you are better able to negotiate the unexpected.

Never let anyone or anything define your value or limit your dream.

A period of detention in a chilly upstate facility can be a great attitude adjuster.

I can't stand stupid, and I can't stand slow.

I'm not sure whether it's going to be the downfall of Rome - social media. There are too many secrets.

We don't take Sweet'n Lows from restaurants anymore. I don't stuff dinner rolls into my pocketbook.

I resent it when any part of the government refers to people who have money in the pejorative.

I still think an Egg McMuffin is the best breakfast.

I don't mind getting my hands dirty, and I don't mind getting to the truth of a situation and saying, 'You're right, you're wrong, next case.'

I want first-time offenders to think of their appearance in my courtroom as the second-worst experience of their lives - circumcision being the first.

I just think I'm direct.

I go down to the gym unwashed, like something dragged in from behind a truck.

Number one - and I want you to emblaze this on your brain - you only have one chance to make a first impression.

Working parents bring a certain amount of guilt to their relationship with their children.

My viewers are smart. They know I have a contract with a TV show and that I make a lot of money.

I think the fundamentals of America are strong.

I always say that when I see that needle start to go in the other direction, when people have had enough of me, I'm going to be smart enough to say goodbye. It's such a joyous ride to be on top, and it takes away from that ride if you sort of ride it down.

I'm an entertainer, and I'm paid as an entertainer.

A combination of tenacity and luck brought me here today.

When I was a practising lawyer in the family court, there were too many judges who, when you left their courtroom, you didn't know whether you'd won or whether you'd lost.

When I go on vacation, I leave my house in total order: bills paid, garbage out, no milk in the refrigerator, mail done so that I can better negotiate what will await me.

I knew that if I worked hard, I could have both - I could have a family, because that was important to me, and I could have a career.

I left family court for the vagaries of TV and said to myself, 'Judy, what the hell are you thinking?' It seems like only yesterday.

The President of the United State is the leader of the free world, and the world has to be able to rely on his or her word, to feel that they have a good moral compass.

I'm not a good interviewer.

Not everything has to be a money-making operation. You do things sometimes because it makes you feel good.

They want to do the right thing, most people. For that little core that doesn't want to do the right thing and gets away with it routinely, most people want to see them get a good whupping. And I am your girl.

You lock your windows before you leave. You put on an alarm if you live in the country because you know that there are bad people out there. Well, in this Internet age, you know that there are bad people out there. And no matter what you do, those bad people are going to get into your house.

Uh' is not an answer.

I really believe if you give people a product that couples entertainment with a little bit of education, a soft glove and sense of humor - especially about a subject people have begun to feel very frustrated about, which is the legal system - then you have a formula for success.

When states and cities and our country say we're going to tax the rich - and that word 'rich' or 'wealthy' doesn't sound like it comes from success of hard work, but from something negative - I resent it.

I'm realistic. I'm not becoming Farrah Fawcett here. If you stay beyond your welcome, it's for ego or money or because you can't exist without the limelight. I'm fine without it.

I don't know where, or by whom, Judge Wapner was raised, but my parents taught me, when you don't have something nice to say about someone, say nothing.

All the judges watched Judge Wapner. All America, at one point or another, watched Judge Wapner.

I try to have the right thing happen at the end of the case, try to have the case have a moral compass to it, try to do a little teaching while I'm at it because that's the, you know, that's the preacher in me.

I deal with conflicts that irritate people and give them stress, like the dispute over a car payment. I can resolve those cases in a moment.

I eat liars for breakfast.

Incarceration is supposed to keep the community safe from your behavior.

While I sat in family court, I probably heard 20 or 25,000 cases. And I am sure, during the course of those cases, there were cases that I probably would've decided differently had I had either more time or been able to explore more. But all you can do as a judge is really give a case your best effort.

I think that there is a difference between men and women as a warrior and a nurturer... It's innate.

I was a sitting judge in Manhattan. I was a supervising judge in Manhattan, and they said to me, 'Did you ever think of doing what you do on television?'

I don't read bad mail. I don't save mail. I'm too old to read negative things.

The reason that you have statutes of limitations is because evidence goes stale sometimes.

This country has a wonderful spirit.

I still love working. I still love being in the mix of things.

I set realistic goals consistent with my talents. I never, for instance, wanted to sit on an appellate court. I'm not an academic. Truth be told, I hate to do research. I have a practical mind, and I was well suited for the trial court bench, not the appellate.