Rene Balcer

I write about power, that's my real subject - how you get it, what you do with it, how you abuse it. I'm equally wary of liberals and conservatives.

— Rene Balcer

It is true that one of the first acts of tyrants is to erase history, to wipe out the recorded memory of a people. With that in mind, it's important to remember that the work that we do as writers, artists and performers will form an essential part of the collective memory that future generations will draw upon. And so we owe it to those future generations to defend that memory and be honest witnesses to our times.

— Rene Balcer

Torture injures everyone who comes into contact with it and corrodes the country that abides it.

— Rene Balcer

I’m sympathetic to the decent and hapless footsoldier into whose lap falls the unenviable duty of carrying out fubar policies.

— Rene Balcer

We by nature mistrust authority no matter who wields it—and I think that’s healthy. Though I disagreed with him on the facts, I fully support Rep. Joe Wilson’s right to call out President Obama—I just wish Democrats had had the balls to call out President Bush when he was peddling his lies to Congress.

— Rene Balcer

In L.A., the only thing within walking distance is your car.

— Rene Balcer

Women write crime better than men do. Men tend to play it safe, relying on an old-boy's network (to get work). Women feel freer. They swing for the bleachers.

— Rene Balcer

If you're going to play stickball in Canarsie you better learn Brooklyn rules.

— Rene Balcer

I'm playing legal tiddlywinks with these punks. What I'd really like to do is take 'em up to Battery Park and hang 'em by the scrotum.

— Rene Balcer

I'll make sure you go away for so long, they'll be planting tomatoes on Mars by the time you get out.

— Rene Balcer

Just how far up your ass is your head?!

— Rene Balcer

Nobody's reasonable when they're in love. That's the whole point of it.

— Rene Balcer

Beauty, brains, and a complete psycho. My dream girl.

— Rene Balcer

Your client's not insane... he's in love. Maybe it's hard for you to tell the two apart, but the law can.

— Rene Balcer

The search for truth...It's not for the faint-hearted.

— Rene Balcer

The more I know, the less I sleep.

— Rene Balcer

Oh, the Patriot Act. I read that in its original title, 1984.

— Rene Balcer

It's not enough to do good. You have to be seen doing good.

— Rene Balcer

See? That's what happens when you keep people from doing what they do best: It makes them insane.

— Rene Balcer

Justice is a jagged road.

— Rene Balcer