Quotes from Alan Dershowitz

Well, first of all, no professor should be able to say, I refuse to defend my position. I refuse to debate my position.

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.

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

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.

Ideas don't desert you; ideas aren't treasonous to you, but people can be.

I'm a very tough guy, and I fight hard, and I don't give up. And that makes me friends and that makes me enemies, and I know that.

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.

Well you know, all law is about injustice.

It's wrong, and it's racist, and it's bigoted to say that guns are quintessentially American.

I think that lawyers are terrible at admitting that they're wrong. And not just admitting it - also realizing it.

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.

I was critical of race-based affirmative action early on in my career and I've changed my mind. And I've publicly acknowledged that I was wrong.

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.

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

There are many levels of truth.

In today's distorted world of 'human rights,' truth takes a back seat to ideology, and false claims - especially those that 'support' radical ideologies - persist even after they have been exposed.

The law is agnostic about truth.

The judge also has a truth he wants to hide: He often hasn't been completely candid in describing the facts or the law.

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.

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

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

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

I think we're seeing privacy diminish, not by laws... but by young people who don't seem to value their privacy.

The same independence that got me into trouble in high school got me praise in college.