Famous Quotes & Sayings

Walter Cronkite Quotes & Sayings

Enjoy the top 100 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Walter Cronkite.

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Famous Quotes By Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 624048

I am dumbfounded that there hasn't been a crackdown with the libel and slander laws on some of these would-be writers and reporters on the Internet. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1188347

I think that being liberal, in the true sense, is being nondoctrinaire, nondogmatic, noncomitted to a cause but examining each case on its merits. Being left of center is another thing; it's a political position. I think most newspapermen by definition have to be liberal; if they're not liberal, by my definition of it, then they can hardly be good newspapermen. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 781048

The rule of thumb for all news operations is that stories are assigned their importance on the basis of what affects or interests the greatest number of one's readers or viewers. Depending on the nature of the newspaper or broadcast, the balance between what "affects" and what "interests" is quite different. The first criteria of a responsible newspaper such as The New York Times is going to be that which their readers need to know about their world that day - those developments that in one way or another might affect their health, their pocketbooks, the future of themselves and their children. The first criterion of the tabloid is that which "interests" its readers - gossip, sex, scandal. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 150936

When you're bringing in a fairly unknown candidate challenging a sitting president, the population needs a lot more information than reduced coverage provides. — Walter Cronkite

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Be kind to an old man. — Walter Cronkite

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I think he [composer Joe Raposo] was the first man who kissed me on the cheek. — Walter Cronkite

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To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion ... It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could. — Walter Cronkite

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I guess I showed certain signs of being a workaholic in early years; I had a magazine route very early on - I must have been about seven or eight years old or something like that - when I was carrying Liberty magazine, trying to win green and brown coupons; I eventually [won] a pony. — Walter Cronkite

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I asked [my doctors] if I'd be able to play singles tennis and they said I could. That made me very happy since I haven't played in five years. — Walter Cronkite

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I've gone from the most trusted man in America to one of the most debated. — Walter Cronkite

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The profession of journalism ought to be about telling people what they need to know - not what they want to know. — Walter Cronkite

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Justice was born outside the home and a long way from it; and it has never been adopted there — Walter Cronkite

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Old anchormen, you see, don't fade away. They just keep coming back for more. And that's the way it is, Friday, March 6, 1981. — Walter Cronkite

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It is not the reporter's job to be a patriot or to presume to determine where patriotism lies. His job is to relate the facts. — Walter Cronkite

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I'd like to be a song and dance man. — Walter Cronkite

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We cannot defer this responsibility to posterity. Time will not wait. — Walter Cronkite

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The ethic of the journalist is to recognize one's prejudices, biases, and avoid getting them into print. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1929120

I sort of think in a way that many of us young reporters who had the opportunity to go overseas for our organizations were kind of, in a sense, war profiteers. We were enhancing our careers while covering that terrible conflict. — Walter Cronkite

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I want to say that probably 24 hours after I told CBS that I was stepping down at my 65th birthday, I was already regretting it. And I regretted it every day since. — Walter Cronkite

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Television ... is not a substitute for print. — Walter Cronkite

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In all my years as a news commentator I was never once, able to tell the truth, about anything. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 2015000

I am neither Republican nor Democrat. I am a registered independent because I find that I cast my votes not on the basis of party loyalty but on the issues of the moment and my assessment of the candidates. — Walter Cronkite

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Our job is only to hold up the mirror - to tell and show the public what has happened. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1512516

I don't think people ought to believe only one news medium. They ought to read and they ought to go to opinion journals and all the rest of it. I think it's terribly important that this be taught in the public schools, because otherwise, we're gonna get to a situation because of economic pressures and other things where television's all you've got left. And that would be disastrous. We can't cover the news in a half-hour event evening. That's ridiculous. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1077597

For many years, I did my best to report on the issues of the day in as objective a manner as possible. When I had my own strong opinions, as I often did, I tried not to communicate them to my audience. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1377627

We're an ignorant nation right now. We're not really capable, I do not think, the majority of our people, of making the decisions that have to be made at election time and particularly in the selection of their legislatures and their Congress and the presidency, of course. I don't think we're bright enough to do the job that would preserve our democracy, our republic. I think we're in serious danger. — Walter Cronkite

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Putting it as strongly as I can, the failure to give free airtime for our political campaigns endangers our democracy. — Walter Cronkite

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I'm still ready to go to the moon, if they'll take me. — Walter Cronkite

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I think somebody ought to do a survey as to how many great, important men have quit to spend time with their families who spent any more time with their family. — Walter Cronkite

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The ruling class is the rich ... And those people are so able to manipulate our democracy that they really control the democracy. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 2069104

If we are to avoid that catastrophe [a nuclear World War III], a system of world order - preferably a system of world government - is mandatory. The proud nations someday will see the light and, for the common good and their own survival, yield up their precious sovereignty, just as America's thirteen colonies did two centuries ago. When we finally come to our senses and establish a world executive and parliament of nations, thanks to the Nuremburg precedent we will already have in place the fundamentals for the third branch of government, the judiciary. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1435615

It seems to me that instead of cutting taxes, we ought to be increasing the taxes to pay off the deficit, rather than let that thing build up to the point where our grandchildren's grandchildren are going to be paying for our period of time and our years at the helm. — Walter Cronkite

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Dan Rather and I just aren't especially chummy. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1486781

Terrible, it was terrible. Even today and it's been several months now you just bring it up and I tear up a little bit, terribly. You know when you're that close that long and got along as well as we did, we seldom had any serious arguments. We might have - might discuss which movie we wanted to see and what play we wanted to go to, where we ought to go for a vacation but that usually didn't last very long because we were much of the same mind all the time. — Walter Cronkite

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When Moses was alive, these pyramids were a thousand years old. Here began the history of architecture. Here people learned to measure time by a calendar, to plot the stars by astronomy and chart the earth by geometry. And here they developed that most awesome of all ideas - the idea of eternity. — Walter Cronkite

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I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got. — Walter Cronkite

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The debates are part of the unconscionable fraud that our political campaigns have become a format that defies meaningful discourse. They should be charged with sabotaging the electoral process. — Walter Cronkite

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The daily coverage of the Vietnamese battlefield helped convince the American public that the carnage was not worth the candle. — Walter Cronkite

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Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough. — Walter Cronkite

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I think being a liberal, in the true sense, is being nondoctrinaire, nondogmatic, non-committed to a cause - but examining each case on its merits. Being left of center is another thing; it's a political position. I think most newspapermen by definition have to be liberal; if they're not liberal, by my definition of it, then they can hardly be good newspapermen. If they're preordained dogmatists for a cause, then they can't be very good journalists; that is, if they carry it into their journalism.
[Interview with Ron Powers (Chicago Sun Times) for Playboy, 1973] — Walter Cronkite

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If that is what makes us liberals, so be it, just as long as in reporting the news we adhere to the first ideals of good journalism
that news reports must be fair, accurate and unbiased. — Walter Cronkite

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I am in a position to speak my mind. And that is what I propose to do. — Walter Cronkite

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As anchorman of the CBS Evening News, I signed off my nightly broadcasts for nearly two decades with a simple statement: "And that's the way it is." To me, that encapsulates the newsman's highest ideal: to report the facts as he sees them, without regard for the consequences or controversy that may ensue. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1587165

I grew my mustache when I was nineteen in order to look older. I never shaved it off even though it overran its usefulness many, many years ago. Once you get started in television, people associate you with your physical appearance - and that includes the mustache. So I can't shave it off now. If I did, I'd have to answer too much mail. — Walter Cronkite

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We are on the precipice of being so ignorant that our democracy is threatened. — Walter Cronkite

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I felt that I had been driven from the temple where for nineteen years, along with other believers, I had worshiped the great god News on a daily basis. — Walter Cronkite

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The great sadness of my life is that I never achieved the hour newscast, which would not have been twice as good as the half-hour newscast, but many times as good. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1681630

I think most newspapermen by definition have to be liberal; if they're not liberal, by definition of it, then they can hardly be good newspapermen. If they're preordained dogmatists for a cause, then they can't be very good journalists. — Walter Cronkite

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This opens the door on another chapter of history. — Walter Cronkite

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We're living in a state where no one can trust his telephone conversations, nor even his personal conversations in a room, in a bar or anywhere else. — Walter Cronkite

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Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine. — Walter Cronkite

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Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation. — Walter Cronkite

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I'm a romanticist in many ways. I never get behind the wheel of my boat and dropping the anchor without saying to myself, secretly giving my orders to the crew "All right, lift the anchor, we're on our way to South Hampton. We're gonna beat them there with this load of tea!" — Walter Cronkite

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We've got a great percentage of our population that, to our great shame, either cannot or, equally unfortunate, will not read. And that portion of our public is growing. Those people are suckers for the demagogue. — Walter Cronkite

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America's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system. — Walter Cronkite

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There's a little more ego involved in these jobs than people might realize. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1913667

It is clear that military force and our policy of preemption are alone insufficient to make us safe. But help is on the way. Legislation has been proposed to create a US Department of Peace. In the propsed Department of Peace it would organize our present system into one conscious effort to improve humanity in achieving peace, where true safety lies. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1960823

In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story. — Walter Cronkite

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We are not educated well enough to perform the necessary act of intelligently selecting our leaders. — Walter Cronkite

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Leaving San Francisco is like saying goodbye to an old sweetheart. You want to linger as long as possible. — Walter Cronkite

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Those advocates who work for world peace by urging a system of world government are called impractical dreamers. Those impractical dreamers are entitled to ask their critics what is so practical about war. — Walter Cronkite

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Everybody knows that there's a liberal, that there's a heavy liberal persuasion among correspondents. — Walter Cronkite

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The perils of duck hunting are great - especially for the duck. — Walter Cronkite

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A handful of us determine what will be on the evening news broadcasts, or, for that matter, in the New York Times or Washington Post or Wall Street Journal. Indeed it is a handful of us with this awesome power.And those [news stories] available to us already have been culled and re-culled by persons far outside our control. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 447526

To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past, — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 390576

It seems to many of us that if we are to avoid the eventual catastrophic world conflict we must strengthen the United Nations as a first step toward a world government patterned after our own government with a legislature, executive and judiciary, and police to enforce its international laws and keep the peace ... To do that, of course, we Americans will have to yield up some of our sovereignty. That would be a bitter pill. It would take a lot of courage, a lot of faith in the new order. — Walter Cronkite

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Reagan was an exceedingly likeable guy, just a heck of a nice fellow, despite his politics. He was funny and loved a good joke, the dirtier, I'm afraid the more ethnic, the better. I don't think he brought very much to the presidency, except charisma and success. — Walter Cronkite

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For nearly five decades the World Federalists have worked to promote a strengthened UN and more effective institutions of global governance. I offer my personal endorsement. Now a great opportunity has opened for the realization of the dreams of the UN's founders. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 309323

So now the question is, basically, right now, how will the Osama Bin Laden tape affect the election? And I have a feeling that it could tilt the election a bit. In fact, I'm a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, that he probably set up bin Laden to this thing. — Walter Cronkite

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We know that no one should tell a woman she has to bear an unwanted child. We know that religious beliefs cannot define patriotism. — Walter Cronkite

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Pat Robertson has written in a book a few years ago that we should have a world government, but only when the Messiah arrives. He wrote, literally, any attempt to achieve world order before that time must be the work of the Devil. Well join me - I'm glad to sit here at the right hand of Satan. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 295383

The sweet smell of the South, of Camellias and Azaleas, clings to Beaufort's ancient and historic buildings. — Walter Cronkite

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It seems to rise again when the crisis times come, and this is a time of most severe crisis, as we all know, not just for the history of the United States and the survival indeed of our democracy, but for the future peace of the world. And never before probably has the need for interfaith commitment been nearly as great as it is at this very moment. — Walter Cronkite

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I never had the ambition to be something. I had the ambition to do something. — Walter Cronkite

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We've always known you can gain circulation or viewers by cheapening the product, and now you're finding the bad driving out the good. — Walter Cronkite

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The first priority of humankind in this era is to establish an effective system of world law that will assure peace with justice among the peoples of the world. — Walter Cronkite

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When the Eagle landed on the moon, I was speechless - overwhelmed, like most of the world. Couldn't say a word. I think all I said was, 'Wow! Jeez!' Not exactly immortal. Well, I was nothing if not human. — Walter Cronkite

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The battle for the airwaves cannot be limited to only those who have the bank accounts to pay for the battle and win it. — Walter Cronkite

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News reporters are certainly liberal and left of center. — Walter Cronkite

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Interviewing friends is a tough one. Your duty to the interview must transcend your friendship. Occasionally you'll lose a friend. — Walter Cronkite

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For how many thousands of years now have we humans been what we insist on calling "civilized?" And yet, in total contradiction, we also persist in the savage belief that we must occasionally, at least, settle our arguments by killing one another. — Walter Cronkite

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There is a compulsion that is perhaps the heart of life's meanings, this marvelous mystery of blood ties that brings joy whenever a new family member comes on the scene. — Walter Cronkite

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Probably the most important single element that I found in my own marriage was a sense of humor. My wife had a delicious sense of humor, and I think I have an adequate one. — Walter Cronkite

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I was lucky enough to have one of the first high school classes in the country. — Walter Cronkite

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Ethics must be reintroduced to public service to restore people's faith in government. Without such faith, democracy cannot flourish. Your ambitious agenda is filling a desperate need. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1052637

I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of competition, and we seem to be moving away from that. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1043671

A system of world order-preferably a system of world government -is mandatory ... The proud nations someday will see the light and, for the common good and their own survival, yield up their precious sovereignty ... — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1014321

The fact that you are here tonight gathered together with us testifies to the fact you understand the need for this organization and the need for redoubling our efforts in this organization to try to assure that democracy as represented by the United States must depend upon a total freedom of religion, which is written into our Constitution, of course, and the mere suggestion that anyone could maintain that one's patriotism, one's devotion to one's country can be judged by one's religion is so vile, so vile that we have to take to the streets indeed and to put it aside. — Walter Cronkite

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Success is more permanent when you achieve it without destroying your principles. — Walter Cronkite

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I have never pretended to be a great writer. I am totally immodest about being a great reporter and a good news writer. I write fast and I write accurately, nearly as accurately as anybody can be, and that's my skill. — Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite Quotes 1378630

We are the lucky generation. We first broke our earthly bonds and ventured into space. From our descendants- perches on other planets or distant space cities, they will look back at our achievement with wonder at our courage and audacity and with appreciation at our accomplishments, which assured the future in which they live. — Walter Cronkite

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Our task is not to tell the truth; we are opinion molders. — Walter Cronkite

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I'm very proud of what Harry Truman turned out to be in office and the record he made. Certainly I think he'll go down in history as one of the greats, because of his conscience, his determination to stick with what he knew was right. — Walter Cronkite

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And that's the way it is. — Walter Cronkite

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I am a news presenter, a news broadcaster, an anchorman, a managing editor - not a commentator or analyst. I feel no compulsion to be a pundit. — Walter Cronkite

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Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy. — Walter Cronkite

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There is no such thing as a little freedom. Either you are all free, or you are not free. — Walter Cronkite

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Not only do we have a right to know, we have a duty to know what our Government is doing in our name. If there's a criticism to be made today, it's that the press isn't doing enough to put the pressure on the government to provide information. — Walter Cronkite

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We must strengthen the United Nations as a first step toward a World Government, patterned after our Own Government with a legislature, executive and judiciary and police. — Walter Cronkite

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I am not a contemplative type, basically. I am much more of an action person and, as a consequence, I look forward to today and tomorrow and what's breaking. — Walter Cronkite