Andrew Marr Quotations

History is either a moral argument with lessons for the here-and-now, or it is merely an accumulation of pointless facts.

Journalism is nine-tenths being in the right places at the right time.

The great background question about the Labour governments of the sixties is whether with a stronger leader they could have gripped the country's big problems and dealt with them. How did it happen that a cabinet of such brilliant, such clever and self-confident people achieved so little? In part, it was the effect of the whirling court politics demonstrated by 'In Place of Strife'.

Androgynous fashion, long hair, the Pill, a new interest in the inner psychological life - an unabashed sloppiness, if you will - really marks the sixties. It was when Britain went girlie. And what do girls do? Girls shop.

Hard news really is hard. It sticks not in the craw but in the mind. It has an almost physical effect, causing fear, interest, laughter or shock.

The truth is, "What is a journalist?" is one of those questions for which there is no proper answer. The prehistory of modern journalism shows it has been a ragged and confusing trade all the way through.

Journalism is often simply the industrialisation of gossip.

There is a market for pictures like this. Diana sold an awful lot of newspapers one way or another. But look at the result. We all have to think again.

I'm a great believer in the direct quote in quotation marks and the hard fact.

My kids wouldn't dream of buying a newspaper - and we are a newspaper household.