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"Were this not Texas, were there not a state where there were no protections at all and where the law was clear on that, I think CBS and Mary Mapes and Dan Rather and all of us had a very good chance of winning. So this is an ongoing battle about an issue of principle."
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"Winning a Grand Slam changes everything. There is so much off-court stuff to deal with. And there are expectations of keeping it going that make it tough."
"Race, what is that? Race is a competition, somebody winning and somebody losing. Blood doesn't run in races! Come on!"
"Don't believe that winning is really everything. It's more important to stand for something. If you don't stand for something, what do you win?"
"We count on winning. And if we lose, don't beef. And the best way to prevent beefing is - don't lose."
"Those who have learned to behave as winners always end up winners."
Explore more quotes by Floyd Abrams
"I know a lot of reporters certainly will go to jail to defend confidential sources. Some have even gone to jail for an issue like this. But I can't say that's the norm."
"I mean the idea of this is that it's a good thing for the public to hear interviews like this and that there will be an inevitable amount of fewer interviews if people that the press talks to wind up thinking, well, it's not really a CBS correspondent."
"There are some circumstances in which the First Amendment interest comes up against another interest that is really important and in which we have to make a decision in a particular case as to which is more important."
"I am really impressed by lawyers who write books and tell us that they never lost a case. Most lawyers who have never lost a case have not had enough hard cases. But there are very difficult cases out there."
"When I began we did not really have a lot of First Amendment law. It is really surprising to think of it this way, but a lot of the law - most of the law that relates to the First Amendment freedom of the press in America - is really within living memory."
"It has something to do with the facts and the law and who the judges are. So I think lawyers sometimes exaggerate their role in winning and losing. Lawyers do have a role, and a major role, but they're not the only players in this game."
"CBS exhausted the Texas courts. They went from the trial court to the intermediate court to the highest court."
"CBS fought very hard on this because it believed and believes that there's a principle at stake here. The principle is that Dan Rather doesn't work for the police, and that people that speak to Dan Rather understand that he's a journalist and not a police agent."
"It is within the last quarter century or thirty years. And a lot of that law has turned out to be very, very protective of the press and the public's right to know."
"The principle though remains the same, and the important thing is CBS fought hard, very hard, to protect that principle and will fight again."
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