Alan Dershowitz quotes - page 4

I think there would be less torture with a warrant requirement than without one. (Alan Dershowitz)
There are two kinds of terrorism. Rational terrorism such as Palestinian terrorism and apocalyptic terrorism like Sept. 11. You have to distinguish between the two. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
Laws are important precisely because in a democracy they reflect the attitudes and aspirations of those they govern. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
There will never be another Ed Koch. He was an original, but he represented a significant, if shrinking, segment of American Jewry who refused to compromise their liberal values, their support for Israel or their Jewish pride. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I love discomfort. I mean, my whole life is discomfort. One reason I can never retire is that the idea of just sitting on the beach totally comfortable is not a desideratum in my life. I like ambiguity, I like conflict, I like uncertainly. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
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. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
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. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I was a Jewish rabbinical student for 12 years, and studied the Bible all the time. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I think extremists within the base may very well move the Democratic party away from its pro-Israel position. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
Any human being has private thoughts. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I learn from experience. (Alan Dershowitz)
I've thought hard about my psychological connections and I think I've managed to separate out the psychological from the legal, moral, and political. View quote
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. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I am a peace supporting Jew. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
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. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
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. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
The Internet knows no national borders. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
The Israeli military plays more than a critical role in defending the citizens of the Jewish state. It also plays an important social, scientific and psychological role in preparing its young citizens for the challenging task of being Israelis in a difficult world. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
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. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I feel like my 50 years at Harvard were an interlude. I'm really a New Yorker. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
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. (Alan Dershowitz)
Doing something because God has said to do it does not make a person moral: it merely tells us that person is a prudential believer, akin to the person who obeys the command of an all-powerful secular king. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
I've thought of publishing a book of my hate mail, but I don't own the rights to the letters. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
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 be done openly, with accountability, with approval by the president of the United States or by a Supreme Court justice. View quote
Alan Dershowitz
You're absolutely right: Bob Grant is a racist, Bob Grant is a bigot, he's a despicable talk show host and I agree with that. View quote
Alan Dershowitz