Peter Jennings Quotations

I don't think anybody who looks carefully at us thinks that we are a left-wing or a right-wing organization.

The candidate out front on Labor Day has historically been the one who stayed ahead in November.

I'm an immigrant and I've always wanted to write something about America.

I've always shied away from conventional wisdom, though I know the power of it.

I am utterly struck how, 300 years after his execution, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

I'm not a slave to objectivity. I'm never quite sure what it means. And it means different things to different people.

Whatever you may think of Mrs. Clinton as a character, I think she believes quite strongly in public service.

Always have a sense of humor about life - you'll need it - but always be courteous to boot.

I think you can be cynical about religion on occasion, and certainly skeptical about the degree to which some people use religion to manipulate other people.

I think I came to see Islam, or at least one part of Islam, as an important defense mechanism against the commercialization of the world.

I am sensitive to the value of faith and religion and spirituality in people's lives because I'm a journalist.

I have gone through a period of seeking to understand what or how strong or what are the connections I have to God.

I think sometimes negative campaigning, like so much, is in the eye of the beholder, and I don't think we'll ever get rid of it.

As a journalist, one tends to think there's nothing off limits

George W. had a plan. He arranged to join the Air National Guard in Texas, which meant he would not be sent to Vietnam.

A couple of weeks is a long time in American politics.

Do I think I was put here on earth to be a journalist and to seek truth? No, I don't.

Do we elect a man because of what he stands for, because of where he stands on the issues, because how he makes the nation feel?

Don't be confused that my interest in religion, faith, and spirituality is driven by any sense of faith or spirituality of my own.

I think I am very mainstream - I'm committed to good works in my life.

I'm a big fan of CNN. I watched it from the beginning.

I'm a little concerned about this notion everybody wants us to be objective.

Some people continue to pretend that anchor people are reporters.

The one thing that I have done really well in my life is be a father.

I was raised with the notion that it was OK to ask questions, and it was OK to say, I'm not sure. I believe, but I'm not quite so certain about the resurrection.

If you tailor your news viewing so that you only get one point of view, well of course you're going to think somebody else has got a different point of view, and it may be wrong.

When you think about the events that we've been through, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to, I guess you'd say, 9/11 being the culmination at the end of that, of that scope, what extraordinary changes there have been.

She has made almost no statement at all, kept his funeral strictly private, and keeps her own dignified council.

I have a lot to learn from them, and 'living' is the key word.

I can't imagine that we would do anything radical about our coverage in the immediate future. The story has a whole new dimension with this measure of sovereignty, which is going to make this a really interesting story between now and the election.

He rearranged the show, while we were on air, he rearranged our travel plans while in the air, he even tried to arrange our personal lives, ... What Would Peter Do?

Hundreds of you have been like family. It feels good to have such a family right now.

I would think he would have wanted to be known for more than just that.

I think audiences, in times of trouble and good times, look for people on television who are basic, don't have airs, don't hype themselves.

I was not running away from anything when I left Canada. ... I didn't come to America for economic opportunity, although I have certainly enjoyed it. But every fourth Thursday of November, I have given thanks ... because America has been virtually everything I hoped it would be.

Using Iraqi government figures, which we cannot verify - they may be high or they may be low, we do not know - almost 700 civilians have been killed in the country since the U.S. invaded.

There are a lot of people in this business who believe that part of our job is to reassure the public every night, ... I subscribe to leaving people with essentially a rough draft of history. Some days it is reassuring, some days it is absolutely destructive.

Without him, I find myself stumbling and in the dark. Loving him so much and not having him with me is the hardest thing I've ever done.

Without him, I find myself stumbling and in the darkà. Loving him so much and not having him with me is the hardest thing I've ever done.

The worse things got around me the cooler I tend to be, ... I tend to focus very hard under pressure.

Seems like yesterday; seems like forever -- all at the same time.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to play for you the Duke Ellington classic 'Take the Train' eh?

Almost 10 million Americans are living with cancer. I am sure I will learn from them how to cope with the facts of life that none of us anticipated,

It's sort of, how do you measure it? Do you measure the fact that I'm 20 years older? No. I think I measure it by the events. You know, I came just as the Cold War was coming to an end.

No. I write down thoughts as they occur to me. You never know when you're going to need a good idea.

It was a dreadful mistake, a foolish experiment,

I'm deeply offended by how little Americans know about their country.

because he kept a childlike sense of awe about the world.

I've always been very zealous about not invading other people's private spaces.

Reach out, call your family members, if you have children, call them right now.

I think Chris Matthews is a very bright guy. I'd listen to him even if he didn't shout at people.

We are survivors from the moment of diagnosis.

The risk of sudden death is miniscule, overstating this risk is not going to stop them from taking the drug.

Al Gore has dedicated his life to detail. George W. Bush has not. He's the first to admit it.

Canada join the United States? Where would young Canadians run off to for adventure? Where would Americans run to escape?

Canadians have an abiding interest in surprising those Americans who have historically made little effort to learn about their neighbour to the North.

Jesse Marcel's unproven story was now primetime mythology. This remote New Mexico town had hit the jackpot. It didn't matter that there wasn't a shred of credible evidence to support the claim that a flying saucer crashed here. It didn't matter that there were no credible witnesses to alien bodies.

We have been through a period where we see power leaching away from Washington. Who is more important in the world today: Bill Clinton or Bill Gates? I don't know.

It is essential for politicians to make a connection with us, as Franklin Roosevelt did, as Teddy Roosevelt did, as John F. Kennedy did, as Ronald Reagan did.

Scholars will argue with each other about everything.

[President Bush should] quit hiding behind the Secret Service, come out and face the nation and explain his failure to protect the country.

Patriotism is (like) loving your family whether it is good or bad, while always striving to make it better. Nationalism simply insists 'Hey my family is the best'..

There will be good days and bad, which means that some days I may be cranky and some days really cranky!

I believe there are unidentified flying objects, I'm just not sure who's driving.

There's a whole industry of conservatives saying, 'Ah, it's those damn liberals,' and a whole group of liberals saying, 'It's all those damn conservatives.'...

Do you think in many ways, sir, you're the victim of circumstance now?

Senator Albert Gore Sr. was one of the first outspoken critics of the Vietnam War.

Every candidate goes into every debate hoping that they can own a particular moment.

And once again the government has failed to get the kind of cooperation from the relatives that might allow the case of this young boy to end in a civilized manner that is best for him.

Have a sense of humor about life - you will need it. And be courteous.

I think there is a mainstream media. CNN is mainstream media, and the main, ABC, CBS, NBC are mainstream media. And I think it's just essentially to make the point that we are largely in the center without particular axes to grind, without ideologies which are represented in our daily coverage, at least certainly not on purpose.

I think it's impossible for any of us not to find television, and the political process at its best on television, compelling.

There's no such thing as an independent person.

I'm a reporter. I'm not a scholar.

Illegal immigrants have been a problem in America for hundreds of years...Just ask any Indian.

I don't think a reporter should give advice or make predictions.

I have never spent a day in my adult life where I didn't learn something, and if there is a born-again quality to me, that's it.