I hate journalists. There is nothing in them but tittering jeering emptiness. They have all made what Dante calls the Great Refusal. The shallowest people on the ridge of the earth.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
Bad manners make a journalist.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Our job is like a baker’s work—his rolls are tasty as long as they’re fresh; after two days they’re stale; after a week, they’re covered with mould and fit only to be thrown out.
—Ryszard Kapuscinski (1932–2007) Polish Journalist
I see journalists as the manual workers, the laborers of the word. Journalism can only be literature when it is passionate.
—Marguerite Duras (1914–96) French Novelist, Playwright
Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.
—Frank Zappa (1940–93) American Rock Guitarist, Singer, Composer
Journalists are like dogs, when ever anything moves they begin to bark.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil – remain detached from the great
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
People accuse journalism of being too personal; but to me it has always seemed far too impersonal. It is charged with tearing away the veils from private life; but it seems to me to be always dropping diaphanous but blinding veils between men and men. The Yellow Press is abused for exposing facts which are private; I wish the Yellow Press did anything so valuable. It is exactly the decisive individual touches that it never gives; and a proof of this is that after one has met a man a million times in the newspapers it is always a complete shock and reversal to meet him in real life.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Journalism consists largely in saying “Lord James is dead” to people who never knew Lord James was alive.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Like Eden’s dead probationary tree, Knowledge of good and evil is from thee.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task for men who know good writing from bad.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
We need not be theologians to see that we have shifted responsibility for making the world interesting from God to the newspaperman.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney, Writer
Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the reader
—Lionel Trilling (1905–75) American Literary Critic
Journalism allows its readers to witness history; fiction gives its readers an opportunity to live it.
—John Hersey (1914–93) American Novelist, Journalist
A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister
The journalist holds up an umbrella, protecting society from the fiery hail of conscience.
—George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish Author, Poet, Editor, Critic, Painter
He types his labored column—weary drudge! Senile fudge and solemn: spare, editor, to condemn these dry leaves of his autumn.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canadian Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
Opinionated writing is always the most difficult… simply because it involves retaining in the cold morning-after crystal of the printed word the burning flow of molten feeling.
—Gavin Lyall (1932–2003) English Spy Fiction Writer
The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. [For] to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves-and the better the teacher, the better the student body.
—Warren Buffett (b.1930) American Investor
It was a fatal day when the public discovered that the pen is mightier than the paving-stone, and can be made as offensive as the brickbat. They at once sought for the journalist, found him, developed him, and made him their industrious and well-paid servant. It is greatly to be regretted, for both their sakes.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Journalism is literature in a hurry.
—Matthew Arnold (1822–88) English Poet, Critic
Journalism will kill you, but it will keep you alive while you’re at it.
—Horace Greeley (1811–72) American Elected Rep, Politician, Reformer, Editor
Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers another.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
The lowest form of popular culture—lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people’s lives—has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.
—Carl Bernstein (1944–73) American Journalist, Writer
The daily newspaper sustains the same relation to the young writer as the hospital to the medical student.
—George Horace Lorimer (1867–1937) American Editor, Publisher, Philanthropist
The facts fairly and honestly presented; truth will take care of itself.
—William Allen White (1868–1944) American Editor, Politician, Author
A long life in journalism convinced me many presidents ago that there should be a large air space between a journalist and the head of a state.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
I’d get into a room and disappear into the woodwork. Now the rooms are so crowded with reporters getting behind-the-scenes stories that nobody can get behind-the-scenes stories.
—Theodore H. White (1915–86) American Journalist, Historian, Novelist
We live under a government of men and morning newspapers.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Lawyer, Orator
Every journalist owes tribute to the evil one.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
Journalism is the first rough draft of history.
—Indian Proverb
Exaggeration of every kind is as essential to journalism as it is to dramatic art, for the object of journalism is to make events go as far as possible
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
The journalists have constructed for themselves a little wooden chapel, which they also call the Temple of Fame, in which they put up and take down portraits all day long and make such a hammering you can’t hear yourself speak.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Be careful. Journalism is more addictive than crack cocaine. Your life can get out of balance.
—Dan Rather (b.1931) American Newscaster, Author
I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate.
—James Boswell (1740–95) Scottish Biographer, Diarist
If, for instance, they have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to “a semi-official statement”; if they have fallen into conversation with a stranger at a bar, they can conscientiously describe him as “a source that has hitherto proved unimpeachable.” It is only when the journalist is reporting a whim of his own, and one to which he attaches minor importance, that he defines it as the opinion of “well-informed circles.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–66) British Novelist, Essayist, Biographer
Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space.
—Rebecca West (1892–1983) English Author, Journalist, Literary Critic
The man must have a rare recipe for melancholy, who can be dull in Fleet Street.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
If a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to be a lawyer, and his hands are too shaky to perform operations, he becomes a journalist.
—Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American Novelist Essayist
The real news is bad news.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
Journalists aren’t supposed to praise things. It’s a violation of work rules almost as serious as buying drinks with our own money or absolving the CIA of something.
—P. J. O’Rourke (1947–2022) American Journalist, Political Satirist
A petty reason perhaps why novelists more and more try to keep a distance from journalists is that novelists are trying to write the truth and journalists are trying to write fiction.
—Graham Greene (1904–91) British Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
In journalism it is simpler to sound off than it is to find out. It is more elegant to pontificate than it is to sweat.
—Harold Evans (1925–2020) British-American Journalist, Writer
Journalism is the entertainment business.
—Frank Herbert (1920–86) American Science Fiction Writer
Media is just a word that has come to mean bad journalism.
—Graham Greene (1904–91) British Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
We now demand the light artillery of the intellect; we need the curt, the condensed, the pointed, the readily diffused—in place of the verbose, the detailed, the voluminous, the inaccessible. On the other hand, the lightness of the artillery should not degenerate into pop-gunnery—by which term we may designate the character of the greater portion of the newspaper press—their sole legitimate object being the discussion of ephemeral matters in an ephemeral manner.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
I would sooner call myself a journalist than an author for a journalist is a journeyman.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Journalism is concerned with events, poetry with feelings. Journalism is concerned with the look of the world, poetry with the feel of the world.
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) American Poet, Dramatist
The paper which obtains a reputation for publishing authentic news and only that which is fit to print, … will steadily increase its influence.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
In the real world, nothing happens at the right place at the right time. It is the job of journalists and historians to correct that.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist