“I plead youth as a mitigating circumstance.”

“Maupassant is a man of mitigating circumstances, the lawyer who can bring the jurors around by demonstrating that they too could have committed such a crime. We are all murderers.”

“Did I do and say these things? Yes, I did. Are there any mitigating circumstances? Not really, unless any circumstances {in other words, context) can be regarded as mitigating. And before you judge, although you have probably already done so, go away and write down the four worst things you have done to a partner, even if - especially if - your partner doesn't know about them. Don't dress things up, or try to explain them; just write them down, in a list, in the plainest language possible. Finished? Ok, so who's the arsehole now?”

“Youth is a circumstance you can't do anything about. The trick is to grow up without getting old.”

“Captain of our fairy band,Helena is here at hand,And the youth, mistook by me,Pleading for a lover's fee.Shall we their fond pageant see?Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“There is a rage inside me that I mitigate with my constant drawing.”