The Practice (1997–2004)

Lara Flynn Boyle: A.D.A. Helen Gamble

Photos 

Quotes 

• Helen Gamble : I need it, Richard. Give it to me.

  Richard Bay : What?

  Helen Gamble : The speech. Why we do what we do.

  Richard Bay : Oh, I am not really in the mood after...

  Helen Gamble : PLEASE, Richard. I NEED it. Please give it to me. And don't just phone it in.

  Richard Bay : Helen...

  Helen Gamble : Please! Can't you see how demoralized I am?

  Richard Bay : OK. (takes a deep breath) There are heroes in this world. They're called District Attorneys. They don't get to have clients, people who smile at them at the end of the trial, who look them in the eye and say, "thank you." Nobody is there to appreciate the District Attorney, because we work for the state. And our gratitude comes only from knowing there's a tide out there. A tide the size of a tsunami coming out of a bottomless cesspool. A tide called crime, which, if left unchecked will rob every American of his freedom. A tide which strips individuals of the privilege of being able to, to walk down a dark street or take twenty dollars out of an ATM machine without fear of being mugged. All Congress does is talk, but it's the District Attorney who grabs his sword, who digs into the trenches and fights the fight. Who dogs justice day, after day, after day without thanks, without so much as a simple pat on the back. But we do it. We do it, we do it because we are the crusaders, the last frontier of American justice. Knowing that if a man cannot feel safe, he can never, never feel free.

  Helen Gamble : Thank you.

• Joey Heric : Helen, can I call you Helen?

  Helen : No.

  Joey Heric : Okay, Dorothy.

• Helen : We'd all kill. It's just the circumstances that vary.

  Lindsay : Now there's a proverb.

• Helen : Who's the judge?

  Richard : Kittleson, I hate her too.

  Helen : And why is that?

  Richard : Because... Raymond Oz called me a midget at sidebar. She could've held him in contempt.

  Helen : He was the defendant! She...

  Richard : Then she half-called me a midget, too.

  Helen : Kittleson?

  Richard : It was a slip. She said 'midg', then caught herself. I hate her too.

• Lindsay : If you were in my position...

  Helen : I would NEVER be in your position.

  Lindsay : Hey!

  Helen : Go to hell.

  Lindsay : You go to hell.

• [to another attorney] 

  Helen : Oh, go kill yourself.

• [part of her closing argument] 

  Helen : This man comes from a society that treats women as commodities. A nation that burns bad wives. In America we don't do that. We don't condone honor killings. We don't consider any murder to be honorable. You all know what he did. Come back with a verdict which reminds him what country he is in now.

• George Vogelman : You know you're standing under the mistletoe?

  Helen : You know the saying, George - once you've seen a man holding a severed head, it's hard to look at him again sexually.

• Lindsay : Your style is kind of, you know, Queen Bitch Killer Bee. Doesn't harsh go with that?

  Helen : Why yes Lindsay, harsh would go with that...

• [to Lindsay] 

  Helen : If you're in love with the guy, be a woman about it and claw my eyes out. I'd do it to you.

• Helen : [to Ellenor]  Roommates are supposed to share their little sexual secrets. I sleep with this football player, he comes over with his poodle. Dog likes to lick my toes during. . . Just kidding.