Alan Dershowitz Quotes

Democracy without a free press is inconceivable.

Freedom of the press is the mortar that binds together the bricks of democracy -- and it is also the open window embedded in those bricks.

A free press is the cornerstone of democracy; there is no question about that.

In a free society we're supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, then we're in big trouble. And now, people who are revealing the truth are getting into trouble for it.

We in the press have a special role since there is no other institution in our society that can hold the President accountable. I do believe that our democracy can endure and prevail only if the American people are informed.

I can imagine no greater disservice to the country than to establish a system of censorship that would deny to the people of a free republic like our own their indisputable right to criticize their own public officials. While exercising the great powers of the office I hold, I would regret in a crisis like the one through which we are now passing to lose the benefit of patriotic and intelligent criticism.

The fact that free men persist in the search for the truth is the essential difference between Communism and Democracy.

In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble.

Without freedom of the press, there can be no representative government.

Journalism is the protection between people and any sort of totalitarian rule. That's why my hero, admittedly a flawed one, is a journalist.

When truth is no longer free, freedom is no longer real: the truths of the police are the truths of today.

And a democracy can't exist without free speech and the right to assemble. And that's what Americans tend to forget. And they're born into a culture where they take all of their freedoms for granted.

I tell you, in my opinion, the cornerstone of democracy is free press - that's the cornerstone.

Without free speech no search for truth is possible... no discovery of truth is useful.

The nature of a democracy consists to an important degree in the right of the people to criticize problems and mistakes.

Freedom of expression - in particular, freedom of the press - guarantees popular participation in the decisions and actions of government, and popular participation is the essence of our democracy.

The truth is, there's an information blockade in America, and it must be broken. In order to find crucial facts, numbers and outside perspectives, a person must spend an hour searching and cross-searching on the computer.

No one respects the First Amendment more than I do. People have a right to express their concerns and their hopes and dreams to their government.

To me, I was right from the beginning, because it's my right as an American to speak up and question our president, have my point of view, have my opinion, question what I want to question, and say what I want to say about our government.

The American people need to know the truth. The American people need to see the truth. In a democracy, letting the people know the truth is the essence of what it means to be free.

I knew that if it ever got down to a choice between the Party and our traditional democratic structure I would fight the Party and our traditional democratic structure I would fight the Party to the bitter end.

All Americans value the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press, and I believe this is essential for our continued way of life. But with this freedom comes responsibility. That responsibility has been abdicated here by some in the media and some in the government.

Being a reporter is at the very core of a democracy, being a free person in a free society.

Men may die, but the fabric of free institutions remain unshaken.

The freedom to persuade and suggest is the essence of the democratic process.