Ideas don't desert you; ideas aren't treasonous to you, but people can be.
Alan DershowitzRead
The law is agnostic about truth. It's very skeptical of ultimate truth. That's why freedom of speech permits lies to be told.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The law does not define absolute truths and allows freedom of expression, even when it involves falsehoods.
This quote by Alan Dershowitz highlights the nature of law in its relationship with truth. It emphasizes that the legal system does not endorse a singular, ultimate truth and instead functions on principles that allow individuals to express themselves, even if that expression includes dishonest or misleading statements. This skepticism towards absolute truth within the framework of law underpins the importance of freedom of speech as a democratic right, even when it may lead to the dissemination of lies.
Themes
LawTruthFreedom Of SpeechLiesSkepticism
In practice
Example use cases
This quote is apt for a debate on media ethics during a journalism symposium.
More from Alan Dershowitz
All quotes βEd 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."
Alan DershowitzRead
It's never acceptable to target civilians. It violates the Geneva Accords, it violates the international law of war and it violates all principles of morality.
Alan DershowitzRead
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.
Alan DershowitzRead
A good lawyer knows how to shut up when he's won his case.
Alan DershowitzRead
Scientists search for truth. Philosophers search for morality. A criminal trial searches for only one result: proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Alan DershowitzRead
Similar quotes
Traffic congestion is caused by vehicles, not by people in themselves.
Jane JacobsRead
I always say that people should not rush to change religions. There is real value in finding the spiritual resources you need in your home religion.
Dalai LamaRead
It is easy to say that there are the rich and the poor, and so something should be done. But in history, there are always the rich and the poor. If the poor were not as poor, we would still call them the poor. I mean, whoever has less can be called the poor. You will always have the 10% that have less and the 10% that have the most.
John Forbes Nash, Jr.Read
Those who are used to a cage will weep for a cage.
Yevgeny YevtushenkoRead
In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
When God's righteousness is mentioned in the gospel, it is God's action of declaring righteous the unrighteous sinner who has faith in Jesus Christ. The righteousness by which a person is justified (declared righteous) is not his own but that of another, Christ.
Martin LutherRead