A biography for Jimmy Breslinhasn’t been written yet.
“You get a little picture that reflects the whole. You can get readers interested in the life of one guy, and he can reflect the whole life around him. And it's a better picture than the politicians give you.”
“The professional arsonist builds vacant lots for money.”
“Pick up any newspaper in the morning. Count the words in the lead sentences. There will be at least 25 in all of them: Guaranteed. The writers just want to tell you how many degrees they have from this college or that university.”
“I became a copy boy. Not for long. I started writing stories.”
“The only people I don't answer are bill collectors.”
“The first funeral for Andrew Goodman was at night and it was a lot of work. To begin with they had to kill him.”
“If you gather a lot of stuff, then you write it, write in scenes with dialogue. Somewhere in the middle, rising from all this research like strong metal towers, is your opinions.”
“I don't know any other columnists, and I don't know what they do. I work the single! And nobody does what I do, anyway.”
“Why something in the public interest such as television news can be fought over, like a chain of hamburger stands, eludes me.”
“Trump is larger than life.”
“Speaks cheerful English and in the past has written this language with a paintbrush that talks.”
“Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever studied, writing columns for newspapers.”
“The trouble with Trump's father was that he was a totally naive man. He had no idea that you could buy the whole news reporting business in New York City with a return phone call.”
“I played football. I played trumpet. I could draw.”
“Football is a game designed to keep coal miners off the streets.”
“The financial people, who lead such dreary lives, believe what they read and see on television.”
“I'm the best person ever to have a column in this business. There's never been anybody in my league.”
“Those of Manhattan are the brokers on Wall Street and they talk of people who went to the same colleges; those from Queens are margin clerks in the back offices and they speak of friends who live in the same neighborhood.”
“Politicians attend dinners at hotels with contractors. Bankers discuss interest rates at lunch.”