I spent two years in the Army. And my older brother, who was also a great positive influence on me, encouraged me to think about law school, and I said - well, I didn’t have any money.

Mitchell is recalling an early turning point: after military service, a trusted family mentor—his older brother—urges him toward professional education, but Mitchell’s immediate response is practical rather than aspirational: he lacks money. The quote highlights a recurring theme in mid‑20th‑century American mobility narratives—talent and encouragement meeting structural constraint—and it frames Mitchell’s later achievements (as a lawyer, judge, senator, and diplomat) against the backdrop of limited means. The unfinished, conversational phrasing (“and I said—”) underscores how ordinary and unglamorous the obstacle was, making the eventual trajectory feel less like destiny and more like perseverance plus opportunity.