Quotes by Alan Dershowitz

About Alan Dershowitz:

Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, author, and political commentator. He is a prominent scholar on United States constitutional law and criminal law, and a leading defender of civil liberties. He spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history. He held the Felix Frankfurter professorship there from 1993 until his retirement in December 2013.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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 stron...

Alan Dershowitz

I tell my students, if you ever become comfortable with your role as criminal defense lawyer, it's time to quit. It should be a constant source of discomfort, because you're dealing with incredible moral ambiguity, and you've been cast into a role wh...

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

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

Alan Dershowitz

A visit to Israel is always an experience in cognitive dissonance. The Israel you personally see and hear is so completely different from the Israel you read and hear about in the media.

Alan Dershowitz

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

Freedom of speech means freedom for those who you despise, and freedom to express the most despicable views. It also means that the government cannot pick and choose which expressions to authorize and which to prevent.

Alan Dershowitz

Being offended by freedom of speech should never be regarded as a justification for violence.

Alan Dershowitz

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.

Alan Dershowitz

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

Alan Dershowitz

I don't believe in firing professors. They have academic freedom.

Alan Dershowitz

I came from a poor family, so working and going to school at the same time was natural. It taught me multi-tasking, although we didn't call it that back then. I learned I could never be idle, I need to be doing many things at once.

Alan Dershowitz

I never had a strategy about my life. I didn't have enough information to have a strategy. I'm the first person in my family to go to college. I had no family mentors.

Alan Dershowitz

In some ways, Israel has achieved a peace. There are fewer rockets being sent into Sderot, there are no rockets to speak of from the North, there has been very little terrorism from the West Bank. It's a kind of peace. I hope for a better and more en...

Alan Dershowitz

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

Alan Dershowitz

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.

Alan Dershowitz

Juries are not computers. They are composed of human beings who evaluate evidence differently.

Alan Dershowitz

Real heroes are those who face death for a principle - say, to save the lives of others - without any promise of reward.

Alan Dershowitz

Every celebrity case I've been involved in - I've been involved in a great many - the one thing you can be sure of is they don't get the same justice as everybody else. It could be worse, it could be better, it's never the same.

Alan Dershowitz

A good lawyer knows how to shut up when he's won his case.

Alan Dershowitz

Author Bio

  • NameAlan Dershowitz
  • DescriptionAmerican lawyer, author
  • BornSeptember 1, 1938
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionAuthor
  • AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship