Alan Dershowitz quotes - page 3

Alan Dershowitz is an American lawyer, legal scholar, and former Harvard Law School professor. Known for his work in U.S. constitutional and criminal law, he has represented many high-profile and controversial clients. He continues to be a prominent commentator and author on legal and political issues. Here are 132 of his quotes:

When you discriminate against anyone, you discriminate against everyone. It's a display of terrible intolerance. (Alan Dershowitz)
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. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I think most defense attorneys honestly believe the principle that says, 'Better 10 guilty go free than even one possibly innocent person be convicted. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
When I decide who to vote for as President, I ask myself who will be best for America and for the world. An important component of my answer involves my assessment of the candidate's willingness and ability to protect Israel's security, since I strongly believe that a strong Israel serves the interests of the United States and of world peace. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
President Obama has earned my vote on the basis of his excellent judicial appointments, his consensus-building foreign policy and the improvements he has brought about in the disastrous economy he inherited. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I don't think the law exists to arrive at the truth. If it did, we wouldn't have exclusionary rules, we wouldn't have presumptions of innocence, we wouldn't have proof beyond reasonable doubt. There's an enormous difference between the role of truth in law and the role of truth in science. In law, truth is one among many goals. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
On television and in the movies, crimes are always solved. Nothing is left uncertain. By the end, the viewer knows whodunit. In real life, on the other hand, many murders remain unsolved, and even some that are "solved" to the satisfaction of the police and prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to result in a conviction. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
If America has the right to target Osama bin Laden, or terrorists, of course Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorism. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
Students throughout the totalitarian world risk life and limb for freedom of expression, many American college students are demanding that big brother restrict their freedom of speech on campus. This demand for enhanced censorship is not emanating only from the usual corner - the know-nothing fundamentalist right - it is coming from the radical, and increasingly not-so-radical left as well. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
Asymmetrical warfare is a euphemism for terrorism, just like collateral damage is a euphemism for killing innocent civilians. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I'm not a single-issue person, but I spend so much time on Israel because it is so unfairly condemned around the world. (Alan Dershowitz)
Scientists search for truth. Philosophers search for morality. A criminal trial searches for only one result: proof beyond a reasonable doubt. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
The worst mistake you can make is underrating your enemy. Assuming that they're evil - I think it's a terrible thing to do. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
The vast majority of gun owners don't kill, but people who do kill, tend to kill with guns, and often with illegal guns. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
If you're a prosecutor, and you believe the defendant is guilty, you only talk about ultimate truth, but not intermediate truth. If you're the defense attorney, you care deeply about intermediate truth, but you tend to neglect ultimate truth. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
There's no evidence that I'm aware of that guns protect liberty. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
The law is agnostic about truth. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
A criminal trial is never about seeking justice for the victim. If it were, there could be only one verdict: guilty. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I've written important articles on prevention, on the concept of the preventive state, how the law is moving much more in an area of trying to prevent wrongs than trying to deal with them after they occur. That will be my academic/intellectual legacy. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
Twenty five percent of Israeli citizens are not even Jewish. Anybody can become an Israeli citizen if you qualify. Religion is not a criterion for citizenship. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
The sad reality is that there are no purely domestic issues in Israel. Issues that would be dealt with by municipalities in other countries - such as how to deal with a dangerous bridge or how to resolve conflicts between religious and secular bus riders - become major international issues when they occur in Israel. (Alan Dershowitz)
What the United States has to do is send a clear message to Iran that they will not be able to develop nuclear weapons. Why endure the difficulty of sanctions if they are not going to be able to develop nuclear weapons anyway? View quote
Alan Dershowitz
My goal is always to keep support for Israel a bi-partisan issue and never make a national election any kind of referendum on Israel. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I understand that it's good tactics to categorize me as a close-minded, unobjective extremist, but nobody that respects me has those views. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
When I was 14 or 15, a camp counselor told me I was smart. I had never been very good in school, but he told me once that I was smart but my mind operated a little differently. View quote
Alan Dershowitz

Alan Dershowitz

Alan Dershowitz - Image
Photo: Sage Ross, CC BY-SA 2.0
Occupation: American Lawyer
Born: September 1, 1938
Quotes count: 132
Wikipedia: Alan Dershowitz

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