Mike Wallace Quotations

I cannot improve on those spoken for many years by a true legend who preceded me at CBS News. He would say, simply, 'good night, and good luck.'

Covering Richard Nixon's triumphant run in 1968 turned out to be my last major assignment as a general correspondent for CBS News. In September of that year, '60 Minutes' made its debut and I began the best, the most fulfilling job a reporter could imagine.

In making the jump from a local program to the showcase of a coast-to-coast broadcast, Ted Yates and I were determined to maintain the candid, sometimes combative style we'd introduced on 'Night Beat.' But that proved easier said than done.

There's nothing, repeat, nothing to be ashamed of when you're going through a depression. If you get help, the chances of your licking it are really good. But, you have to get yourself onto a safe path.

But I was never, you know, when I see some kids today who are close to their parents, close to their friends... I think it's simply wonderful. I was not a happy kid. Back in those days, I remember the sick, gray days were better. Because when it was sunny I'd feel worse.

If there's anything that's important to a reporter, it is integrity. It is credibility.

As I approach my 88th birthday, it's become apparent to me that my eyes and ears, among other appurtenances, aren't quite what they used to be. The prospect of long flights to wherever in search of whatever are not quite as appealing.

I was so low that I wanted to exit. And I took a bunch of pills, and they were sleeping pills. And at least they would put me to sleep, and maybe I wouldn't wake up, and that was fine.

You're not a nutcase if you want to go see a psychiatrist.

You know, you become crazy. I had done a story for '60 Minutes' on depression previously, but I had no idea that I was now experiencing it. Finally, I collapsed and just went to bed.

I was copeless. Not just hopeless, but copeless. I tried to keep on working because I was ashamed of acknowledging the fact that I was depressed. You don't use that word.

My parents came from Russia and suddenly they wound up in Boston, Massachusetts, Brookline, Massachusetts and they felt the sun rose and set on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's backside because he meant so much to them. This was freedom. This was something totally different from the Russia they had left.

I met all these important people and did all these stories, but I always had such excellent producers and assistants. I could show up to interview a world leader or a criminal and they would have things so well prepared anyone could have done it. It wasn't about 'me,' it was about 'us.'

Jack Kennedy was one year older than I was, and we attended the same neighborhood school.

I went to work when I was a young fellow and I loved what I did. And I just kept working. And when I decided that maybe the time had come for me to quit, I got depressed. What could I do if I didn't work?

I love the urgency of what we do. I like the battles that take place, the jousting.

We were the first people who did investigative stuff, who asked occasionally abrasive, occasionally confrontational questions.

I did what I felt that I wanted to do. Fairly selfishly. I didn't know my kids as well as I should have.

I don't think I have the face - may have the voice but not the demeanor for an anchor. And I defied it.

I never was the story. The story was the story. Period.

I was always nosy and can you imagine a better 60 years, 40 of which or 37 of which traveling any place in the world.

I'm nearing the end of the road and still learning.

Retiring is one thing. Being retired is something else altogether.

Yeah, I was a pretty good kid, you know, I was - I was- I was an overachiever and I worked very hard, played a hell of a fiddle.

I had my hearing aid fixed today so that I could properly hear you. I can't see as well. I now have - this has stopped me from smoking - a pacemaker, have for about the last 15 years. No, I don't like getting old.

My 40 years with CBS News have been a fascinating voyage of discovery. Thirty-seven years with '60 Minutes' have given me the chance to travel the globe, meet and report on world issues, and broadcast what I've learned to an audience at home that had long trusted CBS News reporters like Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid.

Portals do drive e-commerce, ... But I think some e-commerce companies overpaid and expected too much. As e-commerce companies build their own stream of traffic, they'll need to depend on portals less and less.

When I came to CBS it was the mother church. I mean that was - everybody wanted to go to work for CBS News.

I didn't appreciate the way it came down, but I respect the fact NASCAR has to do what it thinks is best.

There are too many people out there like that -- and what's on the scoreboard is important -- but there is a lot more to football.

Let the answer hang there for two or three or four seconds.

Shake it off and get back in there, ... The thing that is going to make a difference is you shaking it off.

She's of a certain age now. She doesn't want to keep getting on planes. She's very wise to do what she's doing.

He likes to ask hard questions, he interrupts too often and, since he owns the microphone, he takes charge. But it's not a newscast.

I feel fulfilled when we've revealed a person.

I even asked Eleanor Roosevelt difficult questions and she loved it.

What you're saying is that you were a living steroids experiment for your entire career,

I admire him. He was his own man, in search of himself.

We may never know the exact cause of the fire.

What do you mean, you have no idea?

He had a lot of nice gestures for me, and so did his dad, but I'm sorry. I'm sure they make mistakes over there every now and then. He's a championship driver and he'll recover from it.

Just merging the two organizations has a lot of challenges, ... The potential pitfalls and opportunities for disagreements exceed whatever benefits could be gained.

I remember when I was growing up, ... It was Jack Benny that I used to listen to on the radio at 7 o'clock on Sunday nights. And that went on and on, and he became an institution. In our own way I think we've done the same.

Over the years he has cajoled, persuaded, done whatever it takes to raise over $4.5 million for Martha's Vineyard Community Services. It is a labor of love for you and particularly Artie.

I was trying to be respectful, but I got really mad at the doctor. I told him there was nothing wrong with me, this was all just a misunderstanding.

I think going down to $20 dilutes the brand and makes it seem like a budget title. The message it sends is ESPN is a budget brand and it's not worth as much as Madden.

It became a control burn is what happened. In this case, we took advantage of an unfortunate situation.

To go around the world, to talk to almost anybody you want to talk to, to have enough time on the air, so that you could really tell a full story. What a voyage of discovery it was.

We used to sit around and chortle, 'Look what this guy said five years ago, and today look what he's doing. Let's stick it to him!' It's as simple as that, I swear.

There are more queens crowned in one night in Dallas than in 400 years in Westminster Abbey.

All I'm armed with is research.

I did game shows, I did interview shows, I did talk shows, I did commercials, I did acting. But all of that was a million years ago.

Even a liberal reporter is a patriot, wants the best for this country. And people, your fair and balanced friends at Fox, don't fully understand that.

It's astonishing what you learn and feel and see along the way. That's why a reporter's job, as you know, is such a joy.

Whether it's $200 or $300 is not going to matter. Nintendo and Microsoft are going to sell every machine they can put on the shelves.

What's it going to be, lunch or dinner?

Because I think you will want to have the freedom that you have now. But you're going to need more money to have the freedom that you now have.

At this point, neither Microsoft nor Nintendo have a chance at catching Sony. What they're trying to do is carve out their own part of the market ... Microsoft's goal is to get established, then it will shoot for the number one slot in the next round of machines, around 2005.

What's an ambush interview? You walk up to a fellow who you want to talk to, and he hasn't been - he hadn't been willing to talk to you before. You've sent him letters, and you've tried to talk to him on the phone. So you walk up to him on the street and ask him a question - that's an ambush?

I used to have acne when I was a kid growing up. You can imagine how serious that was in making you feel bad. And I had skinny bow legs. I mean, as a kid growing up, I was an insecure fella.

When I went to Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, what I really wanted to be was a radio announcer.

And what you're doing to baseball now, you're taking on the whole baseball establishment,

... I've talked one-on-one with George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Nixon, Johnson, Jack Kennedy. But I understand you're not going to let me talk one-on-one with you?

You essentially strengthened your body and your performance with a cocktail of steroids and growth hormones,

Even though Jack Kennedy and I were about the same age and lived in the same neighborhood and attended the same elementary school, our paths seldom crossed during the years he lived in Brookline. I'm sure that in time, I would have gotten to know him better if he hadn't moved away.

Rusty would do anything he could to race,

I've never even shaken hands with the man.

That's like a smack in the face before you even get started. I guess you can always be a critic when you're standing on the outside.

They've been talking with me off-and-on for some time about coming over there. At the moment, I want to stay where I am.

Ronald Reagan knew who the hell he was. He had his convictions. He was comfortable in his skin.

Rooney, of course, he believes that he is the reason that people stick around all the way through the show. They'll put up with anything, you know, in order to get to Rooney, and that's why we're at number 16 or 14 or whatever.

Right now, this bar caters to men. With the addition of liquor, we will be able to served mixed drinks and we think we will be able to attract more women.

There's not a better job in journalism than the one we have, seriously on '60 Minutes' - not a better job.

You say this, 'I would never have been a Major League-caliber player without steroids.' Right,

Incidentally, you know that we made a bet?

I'm a reporter; you can't subpoena people to talk to you. If you write to them and try to call them on the phone and they don't answer or so forth, then take them unawares.

I'll be available when asked for whatever chores CBS News, '60 Minutes,' 'The Evening News,' et cetera, have in mind for me.

I have no doubt that what we started has become a plague. Because - and that's a million years ago but we got caught up in the drama more than we caught up in going after the facts.

I'm just not that comfortable writing so much about myself.

I had a few things to say about him, and he cried. I think he's the real deal.

If you come at it from subject matter, you're never going to get there, Leave it open to struggle and contest, and don't give up too quickly.

If you feel that strongly that we can get better candidates from California, let's get our next mayor or our next commissioner from there.

If you don't like me, you go to Wallace.

I've known (Democratic presidential nominee John) Kerry for 25 years. He's a patriot. I'm listening to what he has to say,

I'm going to more and more these days.

I just want them to remember Friday was not the end of their season. The playoffs are out of the question, but we had a losing streak. Now maybe we can start a winning streak.

At E3, people came out saying Nintendo is going to do much better than Microsoft, ... But over the last month or two, people have turned around ... (Microsoft) will give Nintendo a good run for the No. 2 spot.

The bet was that you were going to take me to lunch or dinner, ... So what's it going to be?

In the best of all possible worlds, everybody would be honorable, but that's not the way the world works. Reputations for reporters are made by discovering things underneath that rock.

If you think about the two different products, they have some things in common that most people wouldn't expect.

Can you imagine the most trusted man in America? Cronkite deserved it too.

By opening our streams up and getting obstructions out, it cuts down on water backup, and that affords us a little more protection and a little bit longer amount of time to notify residents.

I read rip-and-read news, but I wasn't a reporter. I was reading the wire, and the other thing was, I was reading commercials - and I could do a hell of a commercial.

He said come and ask me anything. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

He's a man with a heart as big as the shelter. When it came time to get down to the nitty-gritty, he had the volunteers there.

It's hard to be mad at my brother. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. He was only looking out for me, but he almost cost me a spot in the Daytona 500.

It was a great experience. We came so close last week but came up a little short. It was just an unbelievable feeling.

You want to put a man at ease.

These kids are pure, and their emotions are real, ... My kids do anything we ask them to do.

For Jeff to say that asinine thing that he said is beyond my comprehension.