Vincent Bugliosi Quotes & Sayings

I, for one, can't be sure at all there is a God. — Vincent Bugliosi

For the life of me, I still don't understand why humans pray. — Vincent Bugliosi

Most people see what they expect to see, what they want to see, what they've been told to see, what conventional wisdom tells them to see - not what is right in front of them in its pristine condition. — Vincent Bugliosi

I'm trying to finish my book on the Kennedy assassination. — Vincent Bugliosi

'Helter-Skelter' was the motive for the murders. Manson borrowed that term from a Beatles song on the 'White Album.' In England, helter-skelter is a playground ride. To Manson, helter-skelter meant a war between whites and blacks that the Beatles were in favor of. — Vincent Bugliosi

In my opinion, the Warren Commission's investigation has to be considered the most comprehensive investigation of a crime in history. — Vincent Bugliosi

The ruling in the Paula Jones case is so silly. — Vincent Bugliosi

Even if a sense of honor and duty were not the primary motivating factors in the Warren Commission's work, simple self-interest would naturally have induced its members not to try to cover up the existence of a conspiracy if, in fact, they found one. — Vincent Bugliosi

We can know that the Christian God cannot exist. If he is all-powerful and all-good, as Christians maintain, there would not have been, for instance, the Holocaust. This is an inherent self-contradiction. So if Christians insist on having a God, they can do so, but if they have any respect for logic they'll have to redefine who he is. — Vincent Bugliosi

The very name 'Manson' has become a metaphor for evil ... He has come to represent the dark and malignant side of humanity, and for whatever reason, there is a side of human nature that is fascinated with ultimate evil. — Vincent Bugliosi

Even though ... 9/11 happened because ... Bush's FBI and CIA did not detect the Al Qaeda conspiracy ... , Bush not only failed to apologize to the nation or the victims' survivors, he demonstrated his total lack of leadership by refusing to fire or even criticize those in these agencies who, like Bush, let this nation down. As in private life, to stimulate excellence, good performances have to be rewarded and gross negligence and incompetence punished. — Vincent Bugliosi

It's unbelievable, there's a book out attacking Gore, when he's the most unfortunate loser in political history. — Vincent Bugliosi

I'm still angry with Simpson for getting by with two murders. — Vincent Bugliosi

Within the pages of The Betrayal of America I prove that these justices were absolutely up to no good, and they deliberately set out to hand the election to George Bush. — Vincent Bugliosi

In the [John F.] Kennedy case, I believe the absence of a conspiracy can be proved to a virtual certainty. — Vincent Bugliosi

So I don't blame Boies for the decision of the Court at all. — Vincent Bugliosi

The conspiracy community regularly seizes on one slip of the tongue, misunderstanding, or slight discrepancy to defeat twenty pieces of solid evidence; accepts one witness of theirs, even if he or she is a provable nut, as being far more credible than ten normal witnesses on the other side; treats rumors, even questions, as the equivalent of proof; leaps from the most minuscule of discoveries to the grandest of conclusions; and insists that the failure to explain everything perfectly negates all that is explained. — Vincent Bugliosi

I view myself primarily as a trial lawyer who happens to be writing, as opposed to a writer who happens to be a trial lawyer, so the audience is like a jury to me. — Vincent Bugliosi

If there is one thing that I take pride in, it is the fact that I never, ever make a charge without offering a substantial amount of support for it. You may ultimately end up not agreeing with me, but you will have to concede that I offered much evidence in support of my position, something that people frequently do not do. — Vincent Bugliosi

Yeah, I lost court cases and misdemeanor juries, but of felony jury trials I was successful 105 of 106 times. — Vincent Bugliosi

You might not agree with me, but I always offer a lot of support. — Vincent Bugliosi

One thing I have seen over and over again in life is that there is virtually no correlation between intelligence and common sense. IQ doesn't seem to translate that way. — Vincent Bugliosi

All things and all people in life have to sink or swim on their own merits, not their reputation; that just as a wise man can say a foolish thing, a fool can say something wise. — Vincent Bugliosi

We're a nation of celebrity and hero worshipers, so much so that we make heroes out of those who aren't, such as John Wayne: a patriotic, red-blooded, two-fisted American who spent the Second World War in the trenches on the movie lots of Hollywood. — Vincent Bugliosi

A tactic used by authors of virtually every single book I've ever read that propounds a conspiracy theory is to attack an agency as being part of a conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination, but when this same agency comes up with something favorable to the author's position, the author will cite that same agency as credible support for his argument. — Vincent Bugliosi

A national legal organization is giving very serious thought to using The Betrayal of America as a legal basis for asking the House Judiciary Committee to institute impeachment proceedings against these five justices. — Vincent Bugliosi

It was OK for the media to pursue Former President Clinton year after year for lying about a private, consensual sexual affair, but we have five justices who committed one of the biggest crimes in American History, and it ceased to be a big story. — Vincent Bugliosi

I was at a book convention, in a cab. On one side of me was Arthur Schlesinger; on the other side was William Manchester - real heavyweights. All they were doing was asking me about Charles Manson. The only thing that enables me not to be bored is the people talking about it - they're so interested. — Vincent Bugliosi

Contrary to common belief, the presumption of innocence applies only inside a courtroom. It has no applicability elsewhere, although the media do not seem to be aware of this. — Vincent Bugliosi

The felonious five in their Supreme Court decision never said Gore did anything improperly in Florida. — Vincent Bugliosi

This is America, not a banana republic. — Vincent Bugliosi

All humans make mistakes. But there is no room or allowance in the fevered world of conspiracy theorists for mistakes, human errors, anomalies, or plain incompetence, though the latter, from the highest levels on down, is endemic to our society. — Vincent Bugliosi

I may have implied on several occasions to several different people that I may have been Jesus Christ, but I haven't decided yet what I am or who I am. — Vincent Bugliosi

As a trial lawyer, intelligence is important only in the sense that it allows you to play the game, if you will. Without it, you don't even have a ticket into the competitive arena. But beyond that, it doesn't get you very far at all. — Vincent Bugliosi

Atheism is really nothing but a sorry litany of non-sequiturs, e.g., if God existed, why do we have all the evil and horrors in the world? But this presupposes that God is all-good, an obvious non-sequitur. — Vincent Bugliosi

As a trial lawyer in front of a jury and an author of true-crime books, credibility has always meant everything to me. My only master and my only mistress are the facts and objectivity. I have no others. — Vincent Bugliosi

Doubt ... impels a search for the truth. It opens the door to knowledge. Faith puts a lock on the door. Indeed, ... faith anesthetizes the desire to seek knowledge and truth. — Vincent Bugliosi

Since Kennedy's death, the nation has not seen, in any of his successors, his cosmopolitan intellectualism or the oratorical eloquence with which he sought to lead the nation by the power of his words. — Vincent Bugliosi

For a lawyer to do less than his utmost is, I strongly feel, a betrayal of his client. Though in criminal trials one tends to focus on the defense attorney and his client the accused, the prosecutor is also a lawyer, and he too has a client: the People. And the People are equally entitled to their day in court, to a fair and impartial trial, and to justice. — Vincent Bugliosi

If Lee Harvey Oswald had nothing to do with President Kennedy's assassination and was framed ... this otherwise independent and defiant would-be revolutionary, who disliked taking orders from anyone, turned out to be the most willing and cooperative frame-ee in the history of mankind!! Because the evidence of his guilt is so monumental, that he could have just as well gone around with a large sign on his back declaring in bold letters 'I Just Murdered President John F. Kennedy'!!! — Vincent Bugliosi

Nearly all Americans felt they knew JFK intimately, his charm and wit regularly lighting up the television screen at home. This is why polls showed that millions of Americans took his assassination like a 'death in the family.' — Vincent Bugliosi

The votes of 60,000 Floridians were not counted. The Court threw out all 60,00 votes. And that's what the newspapers around the country are counting now. — Vincent Bugliosi

If anyone should be executed, it should be Charles Manson. Do I go around during the daytime, 'Geez, I'm upset that he's alive'? No, I don't even think about him. I don't think about this case. — Vincent Bugliosi

The question in the Simpson case has never been whether he is guilty or not guilty but, given the facts and circumstances of this case, whether it is possible for him to be innocent. And the answer to that question has always been an unequivocal no. — Vincent Bugliosi

I am more excited about 'Divinity of Doubt: The God Question' than any other book in my entire career, and I've had seven New York Times bestsellers, three of them reaching number one. — Vincent Bugliosi

The reality is that most celebrity defendants are extremely unknowledgeable, naive, and vulnerable, and if they get into trouble, they usually call their lawyer friends who handle criminal cases, and if they don't know any, they call their business lawyers, who then refer them to lawyer friends of theirs. — Vincent Bugliosi

If it's a close election, then it's better for the Supreme Court to pick the president, whether or not he won the election. It's just insane on its face. — Vincent Bugliosi

We should not televise trials. There's only one purpose for a criminal trial. It's to determine whether or not the defendant committed the crime. Anything that interferes or has the potential of interfering with that should automatically be prohibited. — Vincent Bugliosi

One of the people that wrote a forward to my book is Gerry Spence, whom I admire. Gerry is a friend of mine, and Gerry's perhaps the leading criminal defense attorney in the country. — Vincent Bugliosi

Just look at what is right in front of you. People don't do that. They see what they expect to see, what they want to see, what conventional wisdom tells them to see. They only hear the music and not the lyrics of human events. — Vincent Bugliosi

When I hear theists and atheists pontificating on how they know God does or does not exist, I can only smile at the irrationality and, yes, vanity of the notion. — Vincent Bugliosi

Garretson recalled that he drank four beers, smoked two joints, — Vincent Bugliosi

If you're honest with yourself, you're going to find out whether you truly love America, or whether your primary allegiance is to the Republican party. — Vincent Bugliosi

And I believe the truth is mighty, and shines by its own light. — Vincent Bugliosi

I start out with the assumption that a lawyer in a criminal case is going to be incompetent - substantially so. I find my assumption to be rarely wrong. Yet society starts out with the very opposite assumption. — Vincent Bugliosi

These people have elevated audacity to symphonic and operatic levels. The Florida Supreme Court relied on new law to resolve the election dispute down there. — Vincent Bugliosi

explanation was that Manson had gone to the guest house that afternoon, found no one there (Altobelli was out most of the afternoon, making arrangements for his trip), then returned that evening. This was supported by Hatami's statement that Manson had come back up the path after "a minute or two, no more," which hardly left time for his conversation with Altobelli. — Vincent Bugliosi

Relationship with George Spahn. She was in love with George, — Vincent Bugliosi

I believe that the question of the existence of God is an impenetrable mystery and beyond human comprehension. — Vincent Bugliosi

I take no pride in having been the first public personality to come out publicly against Simpson. It just happened that way. — Vincent Bugliosi

I'm sure it's very obvious ... how upset I am with incompetence and the lack of common sense in life. If I can sum up the reason ... it's that these characteristics are not benign. They are responsible for much, if not most, of the great problems, misery, and injustice in the world. — Vincent Bugliosi

Our system, for readily apparent reasons, is far superior to those in nations, mostly totalitarian, which presume an arrested person is guilty and place the burden on the accused to prove his innocence. — Vincent Bugliosi

Although I've been a longtime Democrat (primarily because, unless there is some very compelling reason to be otherwise, I am always for 'the little guy'), my political orientation is not rigid. For instance, I supported John McCain's run for the presidency in 2000. — Vincent Bugliosi

No matter what I do, I'll be forever known as the Manson prosecutor. — Vincent Bugliosi

Over a hundred million Americans reject the findings of the Warren Commission, whose report at least ninety-nine out of a hundred have never read. — Vincent Bugliosi

There is no question at all that Manson was sending Tex, Sadie, Katie, and Linda out on his mission of murder. — Vincent Bugliosi

Although the evidence at this trial shows that Charles Manson was the leader of the conspiracy to commit these murders, there is no evidence that he actually personally killed any of the seven victims in this case. — Vincent Bugliosi

It's my view that any conservative who loves his country has to be extremely concerned. — Vincent Bugliosi

Though there are some notable exceptions, by and large the persistent ranting of the Warren Commission critics, some of whom were screaming the word 'conspiracy' before the fatal bullet had even come to rest, came to remind me, as H. L. Mencken said in a different context, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. — Vincent Bugliosi

A very beautiful honey blonde, Sharon Tate, looked into the eyes of the man who the evidence shows just four and a half months later would order her tragic and violent death. — Vincent Bugliosi

The very best testament to the validity of the Warren Commission's findings is that after an unrelenting, close to forty-five-year effort, the Commission's fiercest critics have not been able to produce any new credible evidence that would in any way justify a different conclusion. — Vincent Bugliosi

Winning is often simply getting up off the ground one more time than your opponent. — Vincent Bugliosi

I've actually had a copilot come out of the cockpit on a trip from L.A. to New York and ask me about Charles Manson. — Vincent Bugliosi

The Florida Supreme Court wanted all the legal votes to be counted. The United States Supreme Court, on the other hand, did not want all the votes to be counted. — Vincent Bugliosi

This book here, 'The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder,' in it, I put together a case against George Bush that could result - it absolutely could result in his being prosecuted for first-degree murder in an American courtroom. — Vincent Bugliosi