Allan Sloan Quotations

I grew up in an environment of jokes and sarcasm and puns. I talk that way, so I write that way.

Teamwork is better than isolation, especially for a columnist.

I wanted to be a columnist so badly that I took a huge pay cut to leave Forbes, which wouldn't give me a column, and join Newsday, which wanted my column for its Sunday business section.

People are treating the Stewart case as seriously as Enron when it's really over trivia.

Go for the gold: better one great column and some undistinguished ones than constant mediocrity.

Report, report, report. Dig, dig, dig. Think, think, think. Don't stop being a reporter because you've become a columnist.

The column's worked out great for me. I've gotten a ton of ego satisfaction, had a lot of fun, won a batch of prizes and occasionally done some public good.

I've spent my career trying to help people without connections understand what's going on so that they have a chance of getting a fair shake from the connected and the powerful.

Don't commit to being a columnist unless you're willing to do it right. Report your behind off, so you have something original and useful to say. Say it in a way that will interest someone other than you, your family and your sources.

The lesson that any thinking person draws from the Stewart saga is that when the government asks questions, run for your lawyer and don't say a word. Had Stewart kept her mouth shut, she'd be OK.

When I started writing a business column 15 years ago, I knew I'd found the perfect job for myself. As a columnist I could pick my own topic, do my own analysis, say what I wanted to say and attribute it to myself. Best of all, I could write in my own voice.

If the government decides to put your life under a microscope, do you think it won't find something? I suspect there's not an adult in the country who would walk away totally unscathed if every aspect of his or her life were investigated the way Stewart's ImClone trading was.

It's easy to write a good column if you've got good information. It's hard if you have to depend on style alone. I suppose there are people who can get away with styling on a regular basis. I'm not one of them. You're probably not, either.

If a column is crying out for a good line and I can't come up with it, I troll for help. Communal humor is good, especially if you involve your boss.

If the subject matter isn't inherently interesting - accounting comes to mind - I've got to make it amusing, if only to keep myself awake.

I don't tolerate whining, I look at people & say 'you're a victim, it's not your fault' figure our how to survive!