Alan Dershowitz famous quotes

You know, it's ironic to me that Christians want to keep the Ten Commandments in our schools, because Christianity has abrogated four of the Ten Commandments. For example, the Sabbath day according to the Ten Commandments is Saturday, not Sunday. And the reason is because God rested, not because Jesus was resurrected.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Christian #Jesus #School

Law is an imperfect profession in which success can rarely be achieved without some sacrifice of principle. Thus all practicing lawyers -- and most others in the profession -- will necessarily be imperfect, especially in the eyes of young idealists. There is no perfect justice, just as there is no absolute in ethics. But there is perfect injustice, and we know it when we see it.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Eye #Sacrifice #Law

Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the constitution by claiming it's not an individual right or that it's too much of a safety hazard don't see the danger of the big picture. They're courting disaster by encouraging others to use this same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don't like.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Mean #Safety #Second Amendment

Look, I don't know whether God exists. I don't know that. And I tell you one thing, I am not frightened of my beliefs. If there is a God who is threatening me with damnation because I don't believe in Him, so be it. I've lived my life in conscience, and I will suffer damnation willingly in conscience against a tyrannical God who would damn me because, on the basis of the intelligence He gave me, I have come to a conclusion doubting His existence, and I will continue to be a skeptic all of my life.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Believe #If There Is A God #Doubt

It simply cannot be disputed that for decades the Palestinian leadership was more interested in there not being a Jewish state than in there being a Palestinian state.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#States #Palestinian

Judges are the weakest link in our system of justice, and they are also the most protected.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Justice #Judging #Links

Hypocrisy is not a way of getting back to the moral high ground. Pretending you're moral, saying your moral is not the same as acting morally.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Hypocrisy #Acting #Way

I think that lawyers are terrible at admitting that they're wrong. And not just admitting it; also realizing it. Most lawyers are very successful, and they think that because they're making money and people think well of them, they must be doing everything right.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Successful #Thinking #People

A library is a place where you learn what teachers were afraid to teach you.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Teacher #Library #Librarian

Asymmetrical warfare is a euphemism for terrorism, just like collateral damage is a euphemism for killing innocent civilians.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Warfare #Damage #Terrorism

There are many levels of truth.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Levels

We all learn in school that the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government must check and balance each other. But other non state institutions must participate in this important system of checks and balances as well. These checking institutions include the academy, the media, religious institutions and NGOs.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Religious #School #Government

The threat or fear of violence should not become an excuse or justification for restricting freedom of speech.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Freedom Of Speech #Violence #Excuse

I think mistakes are the essence of science and law. It's impossible to conceive of either scientific progress or legal progress without understanding the important role of being wrong and of mistakes.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Mistake #Thinking #Law

Good character consists of recognizing the selfishness that inheres in each of us and trying to balance it against the altruism to which we should all aspire. It is a difficult balance to strike, but no definition of goodness can be complete without it.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Character #Trying #Selfishness

I think we have to give religion its due. I think we have to respect those for whom religion is important, but equally respect those who can achieve good morality without religion.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Thinking #Giving #Important

I've had such a satisfying life professionally and personally. I hope my tombstone says, 'Never boring.'
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Tombstone #Boring

Most liberal democracies don't try to figure out what the truth is.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Democracy #Trying #Truth Is

Laws are important precisely because in a democracy they reflect the attitudes and aspirations of those they govern.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Attitude #Law #Democracy

I've thought of publishing a book of my hate mail, but I don't own the rights to the letters.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Hate #Book #Rights

It's every lawyer's dream to help shape the law, not just react to it.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Dream #Law #Shapes

If America has the right to target Osama bin Laden, or terrorists, of course Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorism.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Israel #America #Target

Great research universities must insist on independence from government and on the exercise of academic freedom.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Exercise #Government #Independence

The defendant wants to hide the truth because he's generally guilty. The defense attorney's job is to make sure the jury does not arrive at that truth.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Jobs #Justice #Doe

Scientists search for truth. Philosophers search for morality. A criminal trial searches for only one result: proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Doubt #Criminals #Trials

The Internet knows no national borders.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Borders #Internet

The law is agnostic about truth. It's very skeptical of ultimate truth. That's why freedom of speech permits lies to be told.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Lying #Law #Freedom Of Speech

The struggle for morality never stays won. It's always in process.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Struggle #Morality #Process

There is a paranoid streak in American life. Radio talk show hosts tend to foment that paranoid streak in American life.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Radio #Host #Paranoid

Doing something because God has said to do it does not make a person moral: it merely tells us that person is a prudential believer, akin to the person who obeys the command of an all-powerful secular king.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Kings #Powerful #Doe

For most people, the question why be good - as distinguished from merely law abiding - is a simple one. Because God commands it, because the Bible requires it, because good people go to Heaven and bad people go to Hell.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Simple #Law #People

Our First Amendment expresses a far different calculus for regulating speech than for regulating nonexpressive conduct and that is as it should be. The right to swing your fist should end at the tip of my nose, but your right to express your ideas should not necessarily end at the lobes of my ears.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Ideas #Swings #Liberty

The worst mistake you can make is underrating your enemy. Assuming that they're evil - I think it's a terrible thing to do.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Mistake #Thinking #Evil

I love to play. I love, opera, hiking and museums. The one thing I don't do is sit. I have a tremendous amount of energy.
-- Alan Dershowitz

#Museums #Play #Hiking