Dan Rather Quotes

#1. 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.

Dan Rather

#2. There are more Muslims in North America then Jews Now.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#4. Frankly, I couldn't be more astonished that this guy was involved in something like this than if you came riding through my apartment on a hippopotamus.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#6. I've tried everything. I can say to you with confidence, I know a fair amount about LSD. I've never been a social user of any of these things, but my curiosity has carried me into a lot of interesting areas.

Dan Rather

#7. The Michigan Republican primary apparently is tighter than Willie Nelson's headband.

Dan Rather

#8. 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.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#10. Be careful. Journalism is more addictive than crack cocaine. Your life can get out of balance.

Dan Rather

#11. Tonight, savagery in the streets of Iraq. Ten Americans die in a single day, four of them civilians murdered, mutilated and dragged through the streets ... What drives American civilians to risk death in Iraq? In this economy it may be, for some, the only job they can find.

Dan Rather

#12. As long as I have my health, I want to be reporting somewhere.

Dan Rather

#13. 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.

Dan Rather

#14. Journalism is less addictive than communism.

Dan Rather

#15. 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.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#18. Are the Democrats going to dance the mandate Macarena?

Dan Rather

#19. I've always tried to be fair, even-handed, not an advocate for any group.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#21. 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?

Dan Rather

#22. The difference between love and sex is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

Dan Rather

#23. Never eat spinach just before going on the air.

Dan Rather

#24. 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.

Dan Rather

#25. One finds oneself saying: 'I know the right question, but ... this is not exactly the right time to ask it.'

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#27. 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.

Dan Rather

#28. Writing is the rock on which everything is built.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#30. 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.

Dan Rather

#31. I would rather wear out than rust out.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#33. 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?

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#35. A college degree is the key to realizing the American dream, well worth the financial sacrifice because it is supposed to open the door to a world of opportunity.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#37. I was really lucky to work at CBS news. I was blessed to be able to live my dream in many ways at CBS news.

Dan Rather

#38. If I didn't have a front-row seat on history, it was at least a seat on the aisle.

Dan Rather

#39. 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.

Dan Rather

#40. 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.

Dan Rather

#41. I've never believed in measuring one's worth by the size of his or her bank account. I prefer to look at distance traveled.

Dan Rather

#42. 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.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#44. 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.

Dan Rather

#45. 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.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#48. 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.

Dan Rather

#49. 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.

Dan Rather

#50. Journalists should denounce government by public opinion polls.

Dan Rather

#51. Stay with CBS now for more news, including: Is there a pall over the mall as holiday shoppers think small?

Dan Rather

#52. Editing can alter the original meaning and context, and computers can alter the image itself. The camera can also be manipulated. At the very least, it must be turned in one direction - only one direction at a time ... Who chooses what direction to point the camera, and why?

Dan Rather

#53. And for whatever reason I've loved the news since I can remember. I loved it when I was in elementary school.

Dan Rather

#54. Only votes talk, everything else walks.

Dan Rather

#55. The reelection of Bill Clinton is as secure as a double-knot tied in wet rawhide.

Dan Rather

#56. I don't pretend to be a digital savant or even a digital apprentice.

Dan Rather

#57. Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#59. I'm proud to say I've never been anybody's lapdog.

Dan Rather

#60. (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.

Dan Rather

#61. The great lesson my mother and father gave me was almost invisible. It was a strong sense of being rooted.

Dan Rather

#62. Turn the lights down, the party just got wilder.

Dan Rather

#63. 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.

Dan Rather

#64. 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.

Dan Rather

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

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#66. [My job is] a very high trapeze act, frequently with no net.

Dan Rather

#67. 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.

Dan Rather

#68. 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.

Dan Rather

#69. 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.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#71. What separated Ed Murrow from the rest of the pack was courage.

Dan Rather

#72. Journalism is not a precise science, it's a crude art

Dan Rather

#73. And now the sequence of events in no particular order.

Dan Rather

#74. Ratings don't last. Good journalism does.

Dan Rather

#75. Start-ups like UniversityNow, a network of low-cost, online colleges, allows students to work at their own pace and pay a few hundred dollars a month for a degree.

Dan Rather

#76. 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.

Dan Rather

#77. 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.

Dan Rather

#78. If you liked this broadcast, we hope you'll watch it again tomorrow night and maybe tell your neighbors about it.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#81. Now, I know you expected me to say that, well, I just kick back in the rocking chair, fished a little bit, listened to Willie Nelson tapes and watched old baseball games on the Classic Sports network. And, tell you the truth, I have done that for maybe about five total minutes.

Dan Rather

#82. Americans are once again looking outward

Dan Rather

#83. It's the old shell game.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#85. This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#87. If frogs had side pockets, they'd carry hand guns.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#90. I got addicted. News, particularly daily news, is more addictive than crack cocaine, more addictive than heroin, more addictive than cigarettes.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#92. An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger.

Dan Rather

#93. Always marry a woman from Texas. No matter how tough things get, she's seen tougher.

Dan Rather

#94. But we cannot rely on memorials and museums alone. We can tell ourselves we will never forget and we likely won't. But we need to make sure that we teach history to those who never had the opportunity to remember in the first place.

Dan Rather

#95. 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.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

#97. Fear rules almost every newsroom in the country.

Dan Rather

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

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#99. 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.

Dan Rather

#100. 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.

Dan Rather