Dan Rather Quotes

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Dan Rather

Profession : Journalist

Birth : October 31, 1931

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

I'd much rather wear out than rust out.

Dan Rather

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

This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex.

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

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

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

Dan Rather

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

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

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

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

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

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

Dan Rather

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.

Dan Rather

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

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

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather

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

Dan Rather