Alan Dershowitz Quotes

Alan Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and author. He is known for his work as a criminal defense attorney and his involvement in several high-profile legal cases. Dershowitz's legal expertise and strong advocacy for civil liberties have made him a notable figure in the legal profession and a respected voice on constitutional law.

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.

I have been defending Israel's right to exist, and to defend itself against terrorism, for many years-on college campuses, in television appearances and in debate.

We don't have an Official Secrets Act in the United States, as other countries do. Under the First Amendment, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of association are more important than protecting secrets.

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

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.

Israel can't make peace without the clear support ... -Alan Dershowitz

Israel can't make peace without the clear support of the United States.

In the Pentagon Papers case, the government asserted in the Supreme Court that the publication of the material was a threat to national security. It turned out it was not a threat to U.S. security. But even if it had been, that doesn't mean that it couldn't be published.

In my neighborhood, everyone had an opinion on the local cantor. You didn't go to a synagogue to listen to the rabbi's sermon. You went to listen to the cantor. It was like a concert.

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.

Ed Koch will never 'rest in peace.' That was not his way. He was always nervously squirming, while making others squirm as well. Comfort was not his goal. He understood that to be a proud and assertive Jew meant never being able to leave a sigh of relief and say, 'It's over, we are at peace, we can now put down our guard and relax.'

I believe that if Israel were to put an end to the settlements in the West Bank tomorrow, as it did in Gaza, there would still be reluctance on the part of the Palestinian Authority to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish secular democracy.

I've thought of publishing a book of my hate mail,... -Alan Dershowitz

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

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

You can't think about terrorism without thinking about Palestinian terrorism. Palestinians began international terrorism. It started with them in 1968. They used it as the first resort, not the last resort. They invented it, they perfected it, they benefited from it and they taught the world how to use it and that it would be successful.

I learn from experience.... -Alan Dershowitz

I learn from experience.

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

Individuals have the right to pick and choose which expressions to condemn, which to praise and which to say nothing about. Governments, however, must remain neutral as to the content of expression. And governments must protect the rights of all to express even the most despicable of views.

There's no evidence that I'm aware of that guns pr... -Alan Dershowitz

There's no evidence that I'm aware of that guns protect liberty.

The prosecution wants to make sure the process by which the evidence was obtained is not truthfully presented, because, as often as not, that process will raise questions.

I can't find anything in the Constitution that says you prefer the life of the mother, or the convenience of the mother if it's an abortion by choice, over the potential life of the fetus. Look, I think women, if they're required to not have abortions, could die and could - so I favor a woman's right to choose.

No country in the history of the world has ever contributed more to humankind and accomplished more for its people in so brief a period of time as Israel has done since its relatively recent rebirth in 1948.

I am a peace supporting Jew.... -Alan Dershowitz

I am a peace supporting Jew.

I charge my wealthy clients a lot and put 10 per cent in a fund which I use to pay the expenses of my poorer clients. When the government gangs up on the poor schnook in the street, someone has to stand up for him.

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?

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

I feel like my 50 years at Harvard were an interlu... -Alan Dershowitz

I feel like my 50 years at Harvard were an interlude. I'm really a New Yorker.

I was a Jewish rabbinical student for 12 years, an... -Alan Dershowitz

I was a Jewish rabbinical student for 12 years, and studied the Bible all the time.

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.

When I was growing up, my mother would always say, 'It will go on your permanent record.' There was no 'permanent record.' If there were a 'permanent record,' I'd never be able to be a lawyer. I was such a bum in elementary school and high school... There is a permanent record today, and it's called the Internet.

Well, many insane people and seriously mentally il... -Alan Dershowitz

Well, many insane people and seriously mentally ill people seem very reasonable.

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