“I was participating in something horrible, and my only defense is that I was motivated by my own fear, which of course is no defense at all.”
“That was his phrase - "the high ramparts of my defensiveness"- and I remembered it in case I ever decide to build and then describe my own ramparts.”
“I see that you are highly defensive." . . .Caro said, "I withhold my analysis of your own attitude.”
“My only defense is the acquisition of vocabulary.”
“Self-defense was an accepted motive for murder.”
“I attributed the incidence to temporary insanity, and in my own defense, I'd like to say I haven't run over anyone since.”