Lehrer Quotes & Sayings

The Lord's our shepherd, says the psalm. But just in case, we better get a bomb. — Tom Lehrer

If you're trying to be more creative, one of the most important things you can do is increase the volume and diversity of the information to which you are exposed. — Jonah Lehrer

I'm an expert on the NewsHour and it isn't how I practice journalism. I am not involved in the story. I serve only as a reporter or someone asking questions. I am not the story. — Jim Lehrer

If after hearing my songs just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend or perhaps to strike a loved one it will all have been worth the while. — Tom Lehrer

People can say anything they want to. If they don't want to get the news from me, get it from somebody else. It's not something I'm going to worry about, I'm sorry. — Jim Lehrer

I always wear blue shirts and I like wine or purple ties. — Jim Lehrer

In television there are only about 12 people who do what I do. — Jim Lehrer

Disclaimer: If anyone disagrees with anything I say, I am quite prepared to not only retract it, but also to deny under oath I ever said it. — Tom Lehrer

Rejection process is not fun. It's the red pen on the page, the discarded sketch, sometimes is the only way forward. — Jonah Lehrer

Every creative journey begins with a problem. It starts with a feeling of frustration, the dull ache of not being able to find the answer. We have worked hard, but we've hit the wall. We have no idea what to do next. — Jonah Lehrer

Grit is the stubborn refusal to quit. — Jonah Lehrer

The answer will only arrive after we stop looking for it. — Jonah Lehrer

As long as you give my friend Jonah Lehrer a free pizza, I'll write a song about your restaurant. — Bob Dylan

Like a work of art, we exceed our materials. Science needs art to frame the mystery, but art needs science so that not everything is a mystery. Neither truth alone is our solution, for our reality exists in plural — Jonah Lehrer

There's something mathematically satisfying about music: notes fit together and harmony and all that. And mathematics has to do with abstractions and making connections. — Tom Lehrer

We are the poem, his poem says, that emerges from the unity of the body and the mind. That fragile unity
this brief parenthesis of being
is all we have. Celebrate it. — Jonah Lehrer

Once all the Germans were warlike and mean But that couldn't happen again We taught them a lesson in nineteen eighteen And they've hardly bothered us since then — Tom Lehrer

Alas, irreverence has been subsumed by mere grossness, at least in the so-called mass media. What we have now, to quote myself at my most pretentious, is a nimiety of scurrility with a concomitant exiguity of taste. — Tom Lehrer

Every creative story is different. And every creative story is the same. There was nothing. Now there is something. It's almost like magic. — Jonah Lehrer

There is something scary about letting ourselves go. It means that we will screw up, that we will relinquish the possibility of perfection. It means that we will say things we didn't mean to say and express feelings we can't explain. It means that we will be onstage and not have complete control, that we won't know what we're going to play until we begin, until the bow is drawn across the strings. While this spontaneous method might be frightening, it's also an extremely valuable source of creativity ... the lesson about letting go is that we contain our own creativity. We are so worried about playing the wrong note or saying the wrong thing that we end up with nothing at all. — Jonah Lehrer

Oh we will all fry together when we fry. We'll be french fried potatoes by and by. There will be no more misery When the world is our rotisserie, Yes, we will all fry together when we fry. — Tom Lehrer

Why is music capable of inflicting such pain? Because it works on our feelings directly. No ideas interfere with its emotions. This is why "all art aspires to the condition of music." The symphony gives us the thrill of uncertainty
the pleasurable anxiety of searching for a pattern
but without the risks of real life. When we listen to music, we are moved by an abstraction. We feel, but we don't know why. — Jonah Lehrer

Use your conscious mind to acquire all the information you need for making a decision. But don't try to analyze the information with your conscious mind. Instead, go on holiday while your unconscious mind digests it. Whatever your intuition then tells you is almost certainly going to be the best choice. — Jonah Lehrer

There's only one interview technique that matters ... Do your homework so you can listen to the answers and react to them and ask follow-ups. Do your homework, prepare. — Jim Lehrer

I've traveled around the country and I read local newspapers and all of that, and it's a sad, sad thing to go from city to city and see the small newspapers and they're tiny. They're tiny not only in size but also in scope. — Jim Lehrer

I told the truth about steroids and human growth hormone. I injected those drugs into the body of Roger Clemens at his direction.
Unfortunately, Roger has denied this and has led a full-court attack on my credibility — Jim Lehrer

So long, Mom I'm off to drop the bomb So don't wait up for me But while you swelter Down there in your shelter You can see me On your TV — Tom Lehrer

I'm very proud of myself on my, whatever the literacy is, I'm pretentious, totally pretentious. I like to say 'hmm', for example. — Tom Lehrer

If we don't have an informed electorate we don't have a democracy. So I don't care how people get the information, as long as they get it. I'm just doing it my particular way and I feel lucky I can do it the way I want to do it. — Jim Lehrer

One of the problems is that everybody is used to the old-fashioned debate system, which is very controlled, and where the moderator plays a more active role. — Jim Lehrer

Science has discovered that, like any work of literature, the human genome is a text in need of commentary, for what Eliot said of poetry is also true of DNA: 'all meanings depend on the key of interpretation.' What makes us human, and what makes each of us his or her own human, is not simply the genes that we have buried into our base pairs, but how our cells, in dialogue with our environment, feed back to our DNA, changing the way we read ourselves. Life is a dialectic. — Jonah Lehrer

Insights, after all, come from the overlap between seemingly unrelated thoughts. They emerge when concepts are transposed, when the rules of one place are shifted to a new domain. — Jonah Lehrer

You want to see an angry person? Let me hear a cell phone go off. — Jim Lehrer

Why is a relaxed state of mind so important for creative insights? When our minds are at ease - when those alpha waves are rippling through the brain - we're more likely to direct the spotlight of attention inward, toward that stream of remote associations emanating from the right hemisphere. In contrast, when we are diligently focused, our attention tends to be directed outward, toward the details of the problems we're trying to solve. While this pattern of attention is necessary when solving problems an-alytically, it actually prevents us from detecting the connections that lead to insights. "That's why so many insights happen during warm showers," Bhattacharya says. "For many people, it's the most relaxing part of the day. — Jonah Lehrer

When you attend a funeral, It is sad to think that sooner o' Later those you love will do the same for you. And you may have thought it tragic, Not to mention other adjec- Tives, to think of all the weeping they will do. (But don't you worry. — Tom Lehrer

I'm in the reporting part of journalism. — Jim Lehrer

There is no exit from the circle of one's beliefs. — Keith Lehrer

In order to reduce the deficit, there has to be revenue in addition to cuts. — Jim Lehrer

If the hoods don't get you, the monoxide will. — Tom Lehrer

Well, to tell you truth, I have learned a long time ago that the trick when doing a debate, any kind of debate, is to just turn off the judgment switch in my head. — Jim Lehrer

As I say, I'm a discourse advocate. What form it comes is less important to me than the fact that there is discourse. — Jim Lehrer

I feel that if a person has problems communicating the very least he can do is to shut up. — Tom Lehrer

Eddie Izzard is wonderful, I think, but I've only seen that one HBO special he did. He's one of the few people who talk about stuff other than girlfriends and relationships and flatulence and genitalia. There are very few of them who actually talk about real stuff. — Tom Lehrer

People can get their news any way they want. What I love about what's happened is that there are so many different avenues, there are so many different outlets, so many different ways to debate and discuss and to inquire about any given news story. — Jim Lehrer

Well, you ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer. — Tom Lehrer

When I was in college, there were certain words you couldn't say in front of a girl. Now you can say them, but you can't say 'girl.' — Tom Lehrer

From the three, you then use one to make eight ones. You add those ones to the three, and you get one-three base eight, or, in other words, In base ten you have eleven, and you take away seven. And seven from eleven is four. Now go back to the sixty-fours, you're left with two. — Tom Lehrer

In fact, most of us see perseverance as a distinctly uncreative approach, the sort of strategy that people with mediocre ideas are forced to rely on. — Jonah Lehrer

I've always said this and finally I had a chance to demonstrate it: The moderator should be seen little and heard even less. It is up to the candidates to ask the follow-up questions and challenge one another. — Jim Lehrer

Creativity is a spark. It can be excruciating when we're rubbing two rocks together and getting nothing. And it can be intensely satisfying when the flame catches and a new idea sweeps around the world. — Jonah Lehrer

The best moderators are the moderators who are essentially invisible. A moderator who is there to be seen and heard and to be talked about either, 'oh, God, what a great question,' or, 'oh, God, what a lousy question,' that to me is a failed moderator. — Jim Lehrer

I wanted to be a bus driver when I was a kid. I look at bus driving through the eyes of a little boy. I see it as glamorous. — Jim Lehrer

I'm not tempted to write a song about George W. Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporise them. — Tom Lehrer

Every brilliant experiment, like every great work of art, starts with an act of imagination. Unfortunately, our current culture subscribes to a very narrow definition of truth. If something can't be quantified and calculated, then it can't be true. Because this strict scientific approach has explained so much, we assume that it can explain everything. But every method, even the experimental method, has limits. Take the human mind. Scientists describe our brain in terms of its physical details; they say we are nothing but a loom of electrical cells and synaptic spaces. What science forgets is that this isn't how we experience the world. (We feel like the ghost, not like the machine.) It is ironic but true: the one reality science cannot reduce is the only reality we will ever know. This is why we need art. By expressing our actual experience, the artist reminds us that our science is incomplete, that no map of matter will ever explain the immateriality of our consciousness. — Jonah Lehrer

Most of the stories I have covered in 45 years have been gray stories. — Jim Lehrer

The people who came to hear me perform or to buy my records were not the type who would be offended. But I gather that there were other people who were offended. — Tom Lehrer

Soon we'll be out amid the cold world's strife. Soon we'll be sliding down the razor blade of life. But as we go our sordid sep'rate ways, We shall ne'er forget thee, thou golden college days. Hearts full of youth, Hearts full of truth, Six parts gin to one part vermouth. — Tom Lehrer

I think that if people are having trouble communicating with one
another, the least they can do is SHUT UP. — Tom Lehrer

Think as you work, for in the final analysis, your worth to your company comes not only in solving problems, but also in anticipating them. — Tom Lehrer

They love us everywhere we go. So when in doubt, send the Marines. — Tom Lehrer

In fact, the only way to remain creative over time
to not be undone by our expertise
is to experiment with ignorance, to stare at things we don't fully understand. — Jonah Lehrer

I'm a journalist and that's what I do. — Jim Lehrer

Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air! — Tom Lehrer

Creativity is a catchall term for a variety of distinct thought processes. — Jonah Lehrer

Don't solicit for your sister, it's not nice. Unless you get a good percentage of her price. — Tom Lehrer

For there is surely nothing more beautiful in this world than the sight of a lone man facing single-handedly a half a ton of angry pot roast! — Tom Lehrer

Don't write naughty words on the wall if you can't spell! — Tom Lehrer

If I see a movie star in the department store buying something, I'll kind of sidle up and see what they're saying, what they look like, how they sound. That's an invasion of privacy. — Tom Lehrer

I loved high school, but I wouldn't want to do it again. — Tom Lehrer

Irreverence is easy - what's hard is wit. — Tom Lehrer

You know more than you know. — Jonah Lehrer

While human nature largely determines how we hear the notes, it is nurture that lets us hear the music. — Jonah Lehrer

To have a style is to be stuck. — Jonah Lehrer

Suffering through his classes, the young Igor steeped himself in angst. He would later describe his childhood as 'a period of waiting for the moment when I could send everyone and everything connected with it to hell. — Jonah Lehrer

It is sobering to consider that when Mozart was my age he had already been dead for a year. — Tom Lehrer

I ache for the touch of your lips dear, but much more for the touch of your whips dear. — Tom Lehrer

Distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same. But something in our mind has been changed, and that changes everything. — Jonah Lehrer

Knowledge can be a subtle curse. When we learn about the world, we also learn all the reasons why the world cannot be changed. We get used to our failures and imperfections. We become numb to the possibilities of something new — Jonah Lehrer

Let me be clear: Despite Roger Clemens' statements to the contrary, I never injected Roger Clemens, or anyone else, with lidocaine or B-12. — Jim Lehrer

If I can't get people to commit themselves on whether or not there is a square root of two, then I won't touch on God or anything here — Tom Lehrer

There is a presence in what is missing. That presence is our own. — Jonah Lehrer

Why are corporations so fleeting? ... Instead of imitating the freewheeling city, these businesses minimize the very interactions that lead to new ideas. They erect walls and establish hierarchies. They keep people from relaxing and having insights. They stifle conversations, discourage dissent, and suffocate social networks. Rather than maximizing employee creativity they become obsessed with minor efficiencies. — Jonah Lehrer

In my youth there were words you couldn't say in front of a girl; now you can't say 'girl.' — Tom Lehrer

Counting in octal is just likst counting in decimal
if you don't use your thumbs. — Tom Lehrer

I don't think this kind of thing [satire] has an impact on the unconverted, frankly. It's not even preaching to the converted; it's titillating the converted. I think the people who say we need satire often mean, 'We need satire of them, not of us.' I'm fond of quoting Peter Cook, who talked about the satirical Berlin cabarets of the '30s, which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the Second World War. — Tom Lehrer

The only way to maximize group creativity - to make the whole more than the sum of its parts - is to encourage a candid discussion of mistakes. In part, this is because the acceptance of error reduces cost. When you believe your flaws will be quickly corrected by the group, you're less worried about perfecting your contribution, which leads to a more candid conversation. We can only get it right when we talk about what we got wrong. — Jonah Lehrer

Laughter is involuntary. If it's funny you laugh. — Tom Lehrer

My Marine experience helped shape who I am now personally and professionally, and I am grateful for that on an almost daily basis. — Jim Lehrer

I always wanted to be a scientist, I always thought I'd be a scientist, that was the narrative I was carrying around. I worked in a neuroscience lab as an undergraduate and then after, almost five years in total, but I realized I just wasn't good at science. I didn't have the discipline for it. — Jonah Lehrer

The fatal misconception behind brainstorming is that there is a particular script we should all follow in group interactions ... [W]hen the composition of the group is right - enough people with different perspectives running into one another in unpredictable ways - the group dynamic will take care of itself. All these errant discussions add up. In fact, they may even be the most essential part of the creative process. Although such conversations will occasionally be unpleasant - not everyone is always in the mood for small talk or criticism - that doesn't mean that they can be avoided. The most creative spaces are those which hurl us together. It is the human friction that makes the sparks. — Jonah Lehrer

A skill required to be president is to explain to the American people any given thing they do. — Jim Lehrer

Base eight is just like base ten really, if you're missing two fingers. — Tom Lehrer

San Francisco is a city of twenty-something millionaire white kids named Doug. — Tom Lehrer

Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. — Tom Lehrer

You want to know about creativity? Just go out and buy that book Imagine by Jonah Lehrer. It's only $29.00 in hardcover. — Bob Dylan

I'm not saying Senator Mitchell's report is entirely wrong. I am saying Brian McNamee's statements about me are wrong. Let me be clear: I have never taken steroids or HGH. — Jim Lehrer

Even when alternative views are clearly wrong, being exposed to them still expands our creative potential. In a way, the power of dissent is the power of surprise. After hearing someone shout out an errant answer, we work to understand it, which causes us to reassess our initial assumptions and try out new perspectives. "Authentic dissent can be difficult, but it's always invigorating," [Charlan] Nemeth [a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley] says. "It wakes us right up. — Jonah Lehrer

Just because an idea is true doesn't mean it can be proved. And just because an idea can be proved doesn't mean it's true. — Jonah Lehrer

What you discover when you look at creativity from the perspective of the brain is that it is universal. We're all creative all of the time, we can't help but be creative. — Jonah Lehrer

I came from a family of Marines into the family of Marines. — Jim Lehrer