Dan Rather Quotations

Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

I'd much rather wear out than rust out.

This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Never eat spinach just before going on the air.

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

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.

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.

Are the Democrats going to dance the mandate Macarena?

And now the sequence of events in no particular order.

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

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

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

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

Journalists should denounce government by public opinion polls.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Fear rules almost every newsroom in the country.

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

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

I had just turned 10-years-old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and plunged America into World War II.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Make no mistake, inside that tall, handsome, elegant and eloquent exterior, inside that, beat the heart of a fierce but principled competitor.

No doubt the CBS Evening News will be different.

No doubt the CBS Evening News will be different. Katie is a superb person, and she's a great pro. I'll be rooting for her, and I wish her well.

Lest anyone have any doubt, I have read the report, I take it seriously, and I shall keep its lessons well in mind,

He left us far too soon ... with so much good work to do.

I feel terrific. I had been cautioned by a lot of people that the transition was going to be extremely difficult. I haven't found it so.

I am convinced we can do so again. That must be our focus and priority.

I don't want to be argumentative, Mr. Vice President.

I have been here through good times and not so good times. I have seen us overcome adversity before,

I have been lucky and blessed over these years to have what is, to me, the best job in the world and to have it at CBS News, ... Along the way, I've had the honor of working with some of the most talented, dedicated professionals in the world, and I'm appreciative of the opportunity to continue doing so in the years ahead.

I have always been and remain a 'hard news' investigative reporter at heart, ... I now look forward to pouring my heart into that kind of reporting full time.

To err is human but to really foul up requires a computer.

What I hope will not change is the understanding that news needs to serve the public interest as its primary goal. That is its greatest calling, to keep freedom and independence alive, and keep it honest.

He comes across as a man absolutely convinced that it's his destiny to survive,

He had the looks of a leading man, ... He was a scholar and correspondent and he had the bravery of a knight.

He got his life together and is putting it on the line for his country.

This race between Dick Swett and Bob Smith is hot and tight as a too-small bathing suit on a too-long car ride back from the beach.

There certainly were days when I felt I was rode hard and put to bed wet.

We saw a lot of these in the early '90s. These are the type of weapons that have been missing for the last five to seven years. But we are starting to see them again.

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

The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you.

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.

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

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

Only votes talk, everything else walks.

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.

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.

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.

Writing is the rock on which everything is built.

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?

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.

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

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

Ratings don't last. Good journalism does.

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.

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

(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.

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.

Americans are once again looking outward

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

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.

Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore officially introduced his history-making running mate today, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut....In their first joint appearance they gave a preview of the Gore-Lieberman fight-back, comeback strategy. Their message: They represent the future, not the past, and they are the ticket of high moral standards most in tune with real mainstream America.

I'm all news, all the time. Full power, tall tower. I want to break in when news breaks out. That's my agenda. Now, respectfully, when you start talking about a liberal agenda and all the, quote, 'liberal bias' in the media, I quite frankly, and I say this respectfully but candidly to you, I don't know what you're talking about.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Journalism is less addictive than communism.

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