People From New York City

"An important assumption underlying our commitment to freedom of expression is that truth is a process, not a product."

"Our First Amendment expresses a far different calculus for regulating speech than for regulating nonexpressive conduct and that is as it should be. The right to swing your fist should end at the tip of my nose, but your right to express your ideas should not necessarily end at the lobes of my ears.""

"Rights are traditionally directed against governmental abuses. They are designed to limit the power of the state, especially the police. They are negative rights: ‘the state may not. . .’ This conception of rights grows out of the lessons of history that teaches that in the long run, abuses by the state are far more dangerous to liberty and democracy than individual criminal conduct, dangerous and disturbing as that is."

"If those who are asked to go home after 11:00 P.M. willingly do so, there is no constitutional violation. The conflict occurs precisely because some individuals refuse to consent. It is their rights that come into conflict with the interests of the majority. It is no answer to say they consented, unless we accept the proposition—rejected by all rights theories—that a majority can consent for an unwilling minority."

"But ‘group rights’ is an oxymoron. Groups, especially those with increasing political power, have interests and agendas, but they may not implement them by ignoring the rights of individuals, especially those within these groups who are disempowered and despised."

"The Meares-Kahan essay begins with a historical error. The rights about which they speak did not grow exclusively out of an effort to remedy institutionalized racism. Rights do have histories, and the right of every American to be secure against unlawful police intrusion grew out of a long history of governmental abuse against disempowered people of all backgrounds."

"But rights are not, as Justice Robert Jackson once reminded us, like a limited railroad ticket: good for this train at this day only. They are designed for all people and for an enduring period of time."

"I believe that experience demonstrates that a democratic society that recognizes and enforces these basic rights—uncensored expression, freedom of conscience, due process, democracy, and equal protection of the laws—is preferable to a society that does not. That is my case for rights. That is why I have a strong preference for rights."

"If there can be agreement that certain rights are essential to reduce the chances of perfect injustice, that constitutes the beginning of a solid theory of rights."

"For those who believe in the inerrancy and absoluteness of natural law, both sides cannot be right. But the reality is that there may indeed be both a right to life and a right to choose, just as there may be a right to life and a right of individual or societal self-defense."

"Southern intellectuals also invoked economic and political arguments in support of slavery. They pointed to the dreadful situation of the ‘free laborers’ in the North and throughout Europe, and the exploitative nature of industrial capitalism. The slave owner felt a moral obligation toward the slave and had an economic stake in his continues welfare, since the slave was valuable property… As far as the right of every slave to be a free laborer, they mocked this argument as the right to be ‘free to beg, steal and starve.’"

"Rights come from human experience, particularly experiences with injustice… In a word, rights come from wrongs."

"I wasn’t wrong. I am just far more correct now than I was then."

"The Israeli army has given well-publicized notice to civilians to leave those areas of southern Lebanon that have been turned into war zones. Those who voluntarily remain behind have become complicit. Some -- those who cannot leave on their own -- should be counted among the innocent victims. If the media were to adopt this "continuum," it would be informative to learn how many of the "civilian casualties" fall closer to the line of complicity and how many fall closer to the line of innocence. Every civilian death is a tragedy, but some are more tragic than others."

"That is why a criminal trial is not a search for truth. Scientists search for truth. Philosophers search for morality. A criminal trial searches for only one result: proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

"You know, being black doesn’t give you a license to call people racist any more than being Jewish gives you license to call people anti-Semitic."

"The threat of mutually assured destruction worked for the United States during the Cold War because it had proved its willingness to drop nuclear bombs on enemy cities at the end of World War II. It might work less well for Israel, because the Israeli Air Force has never deliberately targeted a large civilian population center, and its leaders have said its morality would not permit it do so."

"You will find that the number of Israeli casualties among civilians exceeds the number of Palestinian casualties among (pause) innocent civilians who were noncombatants and not involved in any way in terrorism, and were killed by the Israelis, as distinguished from being killed by Palestinian (pause) terrorists as collaborators! That is simply a fact-I know of no source that disputes that!"

"And any civil libertarian who was exposed to what’s going on here today — if Hillary Clinton were the subject — would be taking exactly the opposite position. There is so much hypocrisy, partisan hypocrisy out there. I don’t mind if conservatives take the view we ought to trust government or former prosecutors take the view we ought to trust government. My gripe is against civil libertarians and criminal defense lawyers, people who are always on the side of challenging the government. The ACLU has suddenly lost its way and they've forgotten what they’ve been preaching for 50 years because it is Donald Trump they’re after."

"Dershowitz: The Israeli military then did an analysis, and they discovered, of course, that when they dropped that bomb and killed those people, they had no idea that those people were in the building, and the people who made the decision to drop the bomb were criticized and disciplined for it. The point I make is, when they knew, for sure, that family members were there, they withheld doing it. That doesn't deny the fact that on occasion they will accidentally make a decision that's wrong. The difference is deliberateness, willfulness… Norman Finkelstein: …That was a nice fairy tale, dropping a 1 ton bomb on a densely populated civilian neighborhood in Gaza, and they had no idea that civilians would be there. And then he goes on to fantasy #2, that those who did it were disciplined. Really, Mr. Dershowitz? I'd love the evidence for that. I mean, if I could get $10,000 for every one of your fraudulent statements…"

"Here is my proposal. Israel should announce an immediate unilateral cessation in retaliation against terrorist attacks. This moratorium would be in effect for a short period, say four or five days, to give the Palestinian leadership an opportunity to respond to the new policy. It would also make it clear to the world that Israel is taking an important step in ending what has become a cycle of violence. Following the end of the moratorium, Israel would institute the following new policy if Palestinian terrorism were to resume. It will announce precisely what it will do in response to the next act of terrorism. For example, it could announce the first act of terrorism following the moratorium will result in the destruction of a small village which has been used as a base for terrorist operations. The residents would be given 24 hours to leave, and then troops will come in and bulldoze all of the buildings."

"Don't get the idea that I'm one of these goddamn radicals. Don't get the idea that I'm knocking the American system."

"Do I do business with Canadian racketeers? I don't even know what street Canada is on."

"I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the existence of a hunted man."

"This American system of ours ... call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you like, gives to each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make the most of it."

"This is virgin territory out here for whorehouses."

"The bomb will not start a chain-reaction in the water converting it all to gas and letting all the ships on all the oceans drop down to the bottom. It will not blow out the bottom of the sea and let all the water run down the hole. It will not destroy gravity. I am not an atomic playboy, as one of my critics labeled me, exploding these bombs to satisfy my personal whim."

"And by the way, I've been indicted more times than Alphonse Capone. He's the most vicious of all gangsters. If he took you to dinner and if you didn't look proper, if you laughed a little bit, he might think you're laughing at him, it's dangerous to laugh – he'd kill you immediately. He was indicted one time. I was indicted four times."

"You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone."

"I've been accused of every death except the casualty list of the World War."

"Never be embarrassed by the things you cannot do. Be embarrassed by the things you can do and don't do well."

"A true friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else."

"Quantum illae stolae pependisti? You paid how much for that dress?"

"Taedium pellucidorum. An eye condition that keeps you from looking at people's slides."

"Futue te ipsum et caballum tuum. Claim it means: I've really got to take my hat off to you. What it really means: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on."

"Stercorem pro cerebro habes. Claim it means: That's certainly food for thought. What it really means: You have shit for brains."

"Podex perfectus es. Claim it means: You did a terrific job. What it really means: You are a total asshole."

"Having done these things, they made the sacrifices prescribed by custom lest they be found lacking in filial piety."

"Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant! May faulty logic undermine your entire philosophy!"

"Nullae satisfactionis potiri non possum. I can't get no satisfaction."

"Canis meus id comedit. My dog ate it."

"Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare. I think some people in togas are plotting against me."

"Lege atque lacrima. Read-em and weep."

"Anates tuas in acie instrue. Get your ducks in a row."

"Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere. If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

"Si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis popinquus ades. If you can read this bumper sticker, you are both very well educated and much too close."

"Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinis alacribus et fructuosis potiri potes! If you can read this sign, you can get a good job in the fast-paced, high-paying world of Latin!"

"Perennial: Any plant which, had it lived, would have bloomed year after year."

"I was raised very religious. I always went to church. I am Jewish bloodline but I am Christian faith. I was brought up christian faith rather. I still have very deep beliefs in God and things like that but I don't subscribe to the organized religion that I grew up with."

"One of the reasons why Chris [Holmes] and I hooked up is that we were such extreme personalities. We had the ability to be the nicest people you'd ever want to meet, but cross us and we could turn into the devil himself. There was just a wide range of emotions going on there, but probably artists in general are like that. They just have a wide emotional swing."