Ideas don't desert you; ideas aren't treasonous to you, but people can be.
Alan DershowitzRead
Scientists search for truth. Philosophers search for morality. A criminal trial searches for only one result: proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote distinguishes the objectives of different fields: science, philosophy, and law.
Alan Dershowitz highlights the contrast between the aims of scientists, philosophers, and the legal system. While scientists pursue empirical truths and philosophers explore ethical principles, the legal arena focuses narrowly on establishing guilt based on sufficient evidence, marked by the standard of 'proof beyond a reasonable doubt.' This reflects the complexities and different priorities inherent in the quest for knowledge, morality, and justice.
Themes
TruthMoralityLawSciencePhilosophyJustice
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the role of evidence in criminal justice, this quote can emphasize the unique focus of law.
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
Let no one ever shy away from the claim that Jews have power, that Jews have influence. We have learned the terrible lesson of history; that unless we have influence and power, disproportionate to our small numbers - immoral results will occur. We need power. And we must continue to use our power. Power which we earned, power which no one gave us on a silver platter, power which we worked hard for - use that power in the interests of justice.
Alan DershowitzRead
Similar quotes
I am a mirror to my neighbor, and in that mirror, he must see a reflection of Jesus. If that mirror is cloudy or distorted, Jesus' reflection will be so vague it will hardly be seen.
Mother AngelicaRead
Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of soul, impossible.
Michel De MontaigneRead
One could laugh at the world better if it didn't mix tender kindliness with its brutality.
D. H. LawrenceRead
We thank Him less by words than by the serene happiness of silent acceptance. It is our emptiness in the presence of His reality, our silence in the presence of His infinitely rich silence, our joy in the bosom of the serene darkness in which His light holds us absorbed, it is all this that praises Him.
Thomas MertonRead
Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.
Winston ChurchillRead
It's more impressive," I said out loud. "From a distance, I mean. You can't see the wear on things, you know? You can't see the rust or the weeds or the paint cracking. You see the place as someone once imagined it.
John GreenRead