As much as I hate to say nice things about lawyers, Stan is correct. The discussion in this scene of Henry VI is basically a humorous rebuke of learning by the workingmen. These other lines give a flavor for the scene. SMITH: The clerk of Chatham: he can write and read and cast accompt. CADE: O monstrous! CLERK: Sir, I thank God, I have been so well brought up that I can write my name. ALL: He hath confessed: away with him! he's a villain and a traitor. The actual quote on lawyers is as follows: DICK: The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. CADE: Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled o'er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings: but I say, 'tis the bee's wax; for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own man since. Stan writes: Sadly, Shakespeare's lawyer line is taken out of context. Read in context, it's basically saying that it would be silly to suggest killing all of the lawyers. and Wirt replies: The fellow who put this web page together, Seth Finkelstein, strongly suggests that any interpretation that "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" is somehow complimentary of lawyers required the convoluted logic of a legal mind to begin with.