Jim Lehrer Quotations

We're hoping to build on this in a large, large way.

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.

When I raise my right hand to you (just before the candidates arrive), ... that means, 'That's enough. Cool it. Let's go.'

I see a few familiar faces here in the crowd,

My thing is just to do my job the best way I know how and as I say I'm very fortunate to be able to do it the way I want to do it.

Whether you're 9 or 90, you can play this game.

We thought that once we had turned the town over to the local people, that they would be able to defend their own territory and take care of themselves,

Well, I don't know about objectivity, but I know for certain that it's always possible for a professional journalist who understands what he or she's up to to be fair, and that's the key word. Fairness to individuals, fairness to ideas, and to issues and whatever - that is critical, and that is also part and parcel of what the job.

To ascend to the leader's position, he (Daschle) would need to leap-frog over dozens of more experienced senators and defeat Tennessee Sen. Jim Sasser, who had also announced he would seek the position,

Everyone should get their news however they want to and in whatever form they want. I'm not going to sit back in judgment of other people and the way they do it.

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.

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.

Preparation is based on one driving force for me and that is to be relaxed enough to be able to listen to what the candidates are saying and react appropriately.

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.

If Letterman tells a joke with a piece of information in it that you didn't know before, that's fine with me, that doesn't bother me.

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

I now know how Abbot felt when Costello left, how Brinkley felt when Huntley left, how Sears felt when Roebuck left, and, of course, how Dan Rather felt when Connie left.

I am now finding more and more journalists saying, 'It has taken a tragedy of enormous proportions, but maybe, maybe we are returning to our roots,' and those roots are in the business of information, not entertainment,

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

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

My writing is extremely important, so I write every day. I just enjoy it. I get a kick out of it.

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.

No two people see things the same way.

A debate has one purpose, one purpose only, and that is to facilitate the exchange of ideas directly between two candidates, and that's it.

We have increasingly fewer and fewer journalists who have any military experience and understand what life is like in the military and in combat.

I'm not in the being-annoyed business.

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

I came from a family of Marines into the family of Marines.

In my case, I was covering politics in Texas as a newspaper man in the 1960's.

I have great faith in the intelligence of the American viewer and reader to put two and two together and come up with four.

I'm not in the judgment part of journalism.

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.

My own view, there is a need for and a demonstrated need for more journalism now than there ever has been.

I have been accused of something I'm not guilty of. How do you prove a negative? No matter what we discuss here today, I'm never going to have my name restored. But I've got to try and set the record straight.

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.

I started as a print reporter.

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.

If McNamee is lying, then he has acted inexcusably, and he has made Clemens an innocent victim. If Clemens isn't telling the truth, then he has acted shamefully and has smeared McNamee. I don't think there's anything in between.

There are very few really stark black and white stories.

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

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.

I was never promised any special treatment or consideration for fingering star players. I was never coerced to provide information against anyone. All that I was ever told to was to tell the truth to the best of my ability. And that is what I have done.

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

I believe an invitation from the Commission on Presidential Debates is similar to a draft notice - a civic responsibility.

If we're going to have debates, let's have real debates.

I'm a journalist and that's what I do.

I'm in the reporting part of journalism.

I'm in the civil discourse business. I think it takes all kinds. And more power to everybody.

Those who know me know I won't hesitate to turn around and point someone out.

There's always a germ of truth in just about everything.

I have no reason to lie and every reason not to. If I do lie, I will be prosecuted.

On a daily basis there are some huge ones that are, sure, from time to time, but it is helping the reader sort through all this sort of gray stuff out there.

Best I can do for them is to give them every piece of information I can find and let them make the judgments. That's just my basic view of my function as a journalist.

The best nourishment for any soul is to create your own risks.

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

I'm a gatekeeper, and the gatekeepers all used to be mostly old, white men.

If you go to the ball game, you don't need to read the game story.

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

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

The death rate among Marines in Iraq has been more than double that of the other services.

If people want bells and whistles and all of that, there are bells and whistles available. If they don't want bells and whistles there are places to go where they are not available.

Most of the gaffes I've made have not been funny - they've been stupid.

Make no mistake: When I told Senator Mitchell that I injected Roger Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs, I told the truth.

Journalism is caring where the fire-engines are going.

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.

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

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.

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.

The shouting and opinion and jokes don't exist if there isn't first a story.

Take risks ... be willing to put your mind and your spirit, your time and your energy, your stomach and your emotions on the line. To search for a safe place, to search for an end to a rainbow, is to search for a place that you will hate once you find it. The soul must be nourished along with the bank account and the resume. The best nourishment for any soul is to create your own risks.