A biography for Edward R. Murrowhasn’t been written yet.
“If we were to do the Second Coming of Christ in color for a full hour, there would be a considerable number of stations which would decline to carry it on the grounds that a Western or a quiz show would be more profitable.”
“No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.”
“Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.”
“We cannot make good news out of bad practice.”
“A satellite has no conscience.”
“If you believe that this war will be decided on the home front, then you must believe that radio used as an instrument of war is one of the most powerful weapons a nation possesses.”
“The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.”
“A reporter is always concerned with tomorrow. There's nothing tangible of yesterday. All I can say I've done is agitate the air ten or fifteen minutes and then boom - it's gone.”
“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”
“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.”
“Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them.”
“Just once in a while let us exalt the importance of ideas and information.”
“Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation.”
“The politician in my country seeks votes, affection and respect, in that order. With few notable exceptions, they are simply men who want to be loved.”
“It is not necessary to remind you of the fact that your voice, amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other, does not confer upon you greater wisdom than when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other. All of these things you know.”
“People say conversation is a lost art; how often I have wished it were.”
“Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts.”
“Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit.”
“Fame is morally neutral.”