Dan Rather Quotes

To the pilot of a deep sea submersible, upon finding out what would happen if the craft sprung a leak while submerged. I'll trust you to make sure that doesn't happen.

For years Don Imus was just - boy, he was merciless in his criticism of me. Maybe it was justified, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

Turn the lights down, the party just got wilder.

This much we know: Journalism is not a precise science. It's, on its best day, is a crude art. We make mistakes; I make mistakes. With more than 50 years as a journalist, I have at least had the opportunity to blow more stories, make more mistakes than maybe anybody in television.

I know that this story is true.

I'm part of nobody's world except Brezhnev's.

Music is important. It says things you heart can't say any other way, and in a language everyone speaks. Music crosses borders, turns smiles into frowns, and vice versa. These observations are shared with a hope: that, when schools cut back on music classes, they really think about what they're doing - and don't take music for granted.

Are the Democrats going to dance the mandate Macarena?

It's the ratings, stupid, don't you know? They've got us putting more fuzz and wuzz on the air, cop-show stuff.

Catholic dioceses typically spent hundreds of thousands of dollars recklessly, then filed for bankruptcy. The goal was to avoid the money going to the hands of victims of predator priests.

Those market researchers ... are playing games with you and me and with this entire country. Their so-called samples of opinion are no more accurate or reliable than my grandmother's big toe was when it came to predicting the weather.

I would rather wear out than rust out.

It's a legitimate point to debate. But it's part of the reality. It's happening, but it's also true they (looters) are in the distinct minority. I think there's a hero on every street corner in New Orleans, and I think the reporting has shown that. I think the balance has been there.

It's the American way: if you don't vote, you don't get to whine.

Despite what many Americans think, most Soviets do not yearn for capitalism or Western-style democracy.

Only votes talk, everything else walks.

In dealing with the press, do yourself a favor, stick with one of three responses: (a) I know and I can tell you; (b) I know and I can't tell you; (c) I don't know.

Don't taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek.

What sticks with me more than even that act of kindness was how my mother talked to me about it... So I asked my mother why we gave those families gifts at Christmas when we ourselves didn't have much. I remember then answering for myself: "It was because we felt sorry for them, right?"

"We do not feel sorry for them," my mother said sternly, "We understand how they feel.

If you're in Journalism and you're looking for friends, you should get a dog.

I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things.

What I say or do here won't matter much, nor should it.

Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn't block traffic.

Very big business is in bed with very big government in Washington, and has more to do with what the average person sees, hears and reads than most people know.

The Republican convention opens in New York to re-nominate George W. Bush and showcase the party's, quote, 'moderate side.' Will voters buy it?

Those who seek to suppress voting today are either ignorant of the history or are, as I suspect is more often the case, malevolently choosing to ignore it...

To suppress the vote is to make a mockery of democracy. And those who do so are essentially acknowledging that their policies are unpopular. If you can't convince a majority of voters that your ideas are worthy, you try to limit the pool of voters. This reveals a certain irony: Many who are most vocal in championing a free, open, and dynamic economy are the same political factions that suppress these principles when it comes to the currency of ideas.

We are the "can do" country. We adjust to situations better than any people in the history of the world ... We adjust to change.

I still love following and thinking about politics. I enjoy recommending important journalism I read or see from other sources.

Have you ever had any anger about President Bush - who spent his time during the Vietnam War in the National Guard - running, in effect, a campaign that does its best to diminish your service in Vietnam? You have to be at least irritated by that, or have you been?

Do not let the truth get in the way of a good story.

I respect and empathize with reporters and editors who must compete in today's environment. And I know full well that when I've been covering campaigns, which I still do, I've made my mistakes and have been far from perfect.

Never eat spinach just before going on the air.

I can say with confidence I know a fair bit about LSD.

This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex.

On Capitol Hill, the Republican-controlled House voted mostly along party lines tonight to pass President Bush's federal budget blueprint. This includes his big tax cut plan, partly bankrolled, critics say, through cuts in many federal aid programs for children and education.

President Bush insisted today that he was not caving in to big money contributors, big-time lobbyists, and overall industry pressure when he broke a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. But the air was thick today with accusations from people who believe that's exactly what happened.

Well, first of all, I don't want to debate the word conservative, but by my definition, a conservative is someone who wants to conserve the Constitution of the United States and the American tradition and law that no one is above the law.

Those of you watching and listening, get a cup of coffee or a spot of tea and join us back here in just a few moments.

I read the book [My Life by Bill Clinton] completely. And I think it compares very favorably with Ulysses S. Grant's gold standard of presidential autobiographies.

You'd better do what you feel good about doing. If we [try] to figure out what it is the audience wants and then try to deliver it to them, we're lost souls on the ghost ship forever.

I quote the late Ed Murow ... He said: 'Look, people listen to me when they want an eyewitness account. 'They think I'm a pretty good reporter. But when it comes to my opinions, mine are not worth anymore than the guy at the end of the bar.' And I believe that about myself.

Journalism is less addictive than communism.

They say California's the big burrito; Texas is a big taco right now. We want to follow that through. Florida is a big tamale.

My cousin just died. He was only 19. He got stung by a bee - the natural enemy of a tightrope walker.

Anyone who says network news cannot be profitable doesn't know what he is talking about. But anyone who says it must "always," make money is misguided and irresponsible.

A lot of tight Senate races out there. Let's hit those chips with another dash of salsa, Ed Bradley.

He [Mikhail Gorbachev] has, as many great leaders have, impressive eyes ... There's a kind of laser-beam stare, a forced quality, you get from Gorbachev that does not come across as something peaceful within himself. It's the look of a kind of human volcano, or he'd probably like to describe it as a human nuclear energy plant.

We may see Michael Jackson's baby before we know the final outcome of this race for the House of Representatives tonight.

As someone who's been covering presidential campaigns since the 1950s, I have no delusions about political reporting. Candidates bargaining access to get the kind of news coverage they want is nothing new.

They may have turned this up, whether you had the Paula Jones case or not. But again maybe not, but again that's like if a frog had side pockets he'd probably wear a handgun.

These guys [the Catholic church] make Enron look like altar boys.

One of the most important roles of our journalists is to be watchdogs.

We are a nation not only of dreamers, but also of fixers. We have looked at our land and people, and said, time and time again, "This is not good enough; we can be better.

A tough lesson in life that one has to learn is that not everybody wishes you well.

The dream begins, most of the time,with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth

The press is a watchdog. Not an attack dog. Not a lapdog. A watchdog. Now, a watchdog can't be right all the time. He doesn't bark only when he sees or smells something that's dangerous. A good watchdog barks at things that are suspicious.

(Obama's) a nice person, he's very articulate this is what's been used against him, but he couldn't sell watermelons if it, you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic.

I think it's important for the public to know, great reporting starts with a publisher who has guts and an editor who has guts.

By more than two to one Americans do not consider what Kevorkian did, injecting a terminally ill patient with legal drugs at the patient's request, to be the same as murder. You may want to note that laws are not supposed to be enforced on the basis of public opinion polls.

Comedians, such as yourself, Jon Stewart and others, are a valuable supplement, and here's why: Good journalism at its best frequently speaks truth to power. What's happened with journalists - again, I don't except myself from this criticism - in some ways we've lost our guts. We need a spine transplant. What's happened is comedians, in their own way, speak truth to power and fill that vacuum that we in journalism have too often left, particularly post 9/11.

I don't back down. I don't cave when the pressure gets too great from these partisan political ideological forces.

Covering the civil-rights movement was a mind- and eye-opener for me. Houston was a segregated society, as was Texas as a whole - some of it by law, a lot of it by fear and tradition. But there was no violence where I lived, and if there was hate, it was either concealed from me or I just didn't recognize it.

I have tried to remain a working, cutting-edge journalist and I don't do it the way everybody else does it. And I think that's the difference.

Once the herd starts moving in one direction, it's very hard to turn it, even slightly.

College is like a woman: you work so hard to get in, and nine months later you wish you'd never come.
We used to say if a frog had side pockets, he'd carry a handgun.

We often hear about how we need to be more tolerant: to make room for people, ideas, and actions with which we may not agree. This is a prerequisite for a functional democracy. But tolerance alone is not sufficient; it allows us to accept others without engaging with them, to feel smug and self-satisfied without challenging the boundaries within which too many of us live.

Texas: 32 electoral votes, another of the so-called big enchiladas or if not an enchilada at least a huge taco.

A free and truly independent press - fiercely independent when necessary - is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy.

I had someone at the Houston police station shoot me with heroin so I could do a story about it. The experience was a special kind of hell. I came out understanding full well how one could be addicted to 'smack,' and quickly.

I'm a believer in what your record is. I am what my record is - some of it good, some of it bad, some of it hard to tell.

It's the old shell game.

When the time comes, & I hope it comes soon, to bury this era of moral rot & the defiling of our communal, social, & democratic norms, the perfect epitaph for the gravestone of this age of unreason should be Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley's already infamous quote:
"I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing... as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it's on booze or women or movies."
Grassley's vision of America, quite frankly, is one I do not recognize. I thought the heart of this great nation was not limited to the ranks of the plutocrats who are whisked through life in chauffeured cars & private jets, whose often inherited riches are passed along to children, many of whom no sacrifice or service is asked. I do not begrudge wealth, but it must come with a humility that money never is completely free of luck. And more importantly, wealth can never be a measure of worth.
I have seen the waitress working the overnight shift at a diner to give her children a better life, & yes maybe even take them to a movie once in awhile - and in her, I see America.
I have seen the public school teachers spending extra time with students who need help & who get no extra pay for their efforts, & in them I see America.
I have seen parents sitting around kitchen tables with stacks of pressing bills & wondering if they can afford a Christmas gift for their children, & i

Ratings don't last. Good journalism does.

Performing doesn't turn me on. It's an egomaniac business, filled with prima donnas - including this one.

From the streets of Cairo and the Arab Spring, to Occupy Wall Street, from the busy political calendar to the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan, social media was not only sharing the news but driving it.

Fear rules almost every newsroom in the country.

If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all.

There is no doubt that the way journalism worked when I was growing up and getting started has changed forever.

Simply put, we have more people talking about news and less original reporting. Whether on television or online, there is no shortage of analysis. But analysis is only as good as the information that supports it. The deep cuts to newsrooms in print and electronic media have resulted in far fewer reporters waking up each morning deciding what story they will chase. There is less investigative reporting ....