It's every lawyer's dream to help shape the law, not just react to it. — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
Every lawsuit results from somebody doing something wrong. If everybody did right, we wouldn't need laws. — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
Laws are important precisely because in a democracy they reflect the attitudes and aspirations of those they govern. — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I think we're seeing privacy diminish, not by laws... but by young people who don't seem to value their privacy. — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
It's never acceptable to target civilians. It violates the Geneva Accords, it violates the international law of war and it violates all… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
Imagine a legal system in which lawyers were equated with the clients they defended and were condemned for representing controversial or despised… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
I think mistakes are the essence of science and law. It's impossible to conceive of either scientific progress or legal progress without… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
I've written important articles on prevention, on the concept of the preventive state, how the law is moving much more in an… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
I never place limits on the potential success of my students. If they're going into acting, they're going to win the Oscar...… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
For most people, the question why be good - as distinguished from merely law abiding - is a simple one. Because God… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
Censorship laws are blunt instruments, not sharp scalpels. Once enacted, they are easily misapplied to merely unpopular or only marginally dangerous speech. — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
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… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
In representing criminal defendants - especially guilty ones - it is often necessary to take the offensive against the government: to put… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
Law is an imperfect profession in which success can rarely be achieved without some sacrifice of principle. Thus all practicing lawyers --… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
If we move away from the American tradition of lawyers defending those with whom they vehemently disagree -- as we temporarily did… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
To ask about the 'source' of rights or morals assumes an erreous conclusion. To ask about the source of morals is to… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
I have no doubt that if an actual ticking bomb situation were to arise, our law enforcement authorities would torture. The real… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share Image
There is no perfect justice, just as there is no absolute in ethics. But there is perfect injustice, and we know it when we… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
A criminal trial is never about seeking justice for the victim. If it were, there could be only one verdict: guilty. — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
If torture is going to be administered as a last resort in the ticking-bomb case, to save enormous numbers of lives, it ought to… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
Our First Amendment expresses a far different calculus for regulating speech than for regulating nonexpressive conduct and that is as it should be. The… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
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,… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
Asymmetrical warfare is a euphemism for terrorism, just like collateral damage is a euphemism for killing innocent civilians. — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
I never had an existential moment when I asked myself what I was going to do. I always wanted to be a lawyer, and… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
It's a new phenomenon in America that states can now sue the national government and become a kind of check and balance on the… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
When it comes to partisan politics, everyone is a hypocrite. And all they care about is whether it hurts or helps them ... Is… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
Everybody says they're opposed to torture. But everyone would do it personally if they knew it could save the life of a kidnapped child… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
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… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
I never place limits on the potential success of my students. If they're going into acting, they're going to win the Oscar... If they're… — Alan Dershowitz Copy Share
