I don’t back down. I don’t cave when the pressure gets too great from these partisan political ideological forces.

I respect and empathize with reporters and editors who must compete in today’s environment. And I know full well that when I’ve been covering campaigns, which I still do, I’ve made my mistakes and have...

I had someone at the Houston police station shoot me with heroin so I could do a story about it. The experience was a special kind of hell. I came out understanding full well how...

As long as I have my health, I want to be reporting somewhere.

Don’t taunt the alligator until after you’ve crossed the creek.

I’m proud to say I’ve never been anybody’s lapdog.

Are the Democrats going to dance the mandate Macarena?

I’ve tried everything. I can say to you with confidence, I know a fair amount about LSD. I’ve never been a social user of any of these things, but my curiosity has carried me into...

I got addicted. News, particularly daily news, is more addictive than crack cocaine, more addictive than heroin, more addictive than cigarettes.

And for whatever reason I’ve loved the news since I can remember. I loved it when I was in elementary school.

Well, first of all, I don’t want to debate the word conservative, but by my definition, a conservative is someone who wants to conserve the Constitution of the United States and the American tradition and...

Fear rules almost every newsroom in the country.

I was really lucky to work at CBS news. I was blessed to be able to live my dream in many ways at CBS news.

Journalism is not a precise science, it’s a crude art

For years Don Imus was just – boy, he was merciless in his criticism of me. Maybe it was justified, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

Always marry a woman from Texas. No matter how tough things get, she’s seen tougher.

I think it’s important for the public to know, great reporting starts with a publisher who has guts and an editor who has guts.

Never eat spinach just before going on the air.

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called ‘truth’.

I don’t pretend to be a digital savant or even a digital apprentice.

Ratings don’t last. Good journalism does.

I still love following and thinking about politics. I enjoy recommending important journalism I read or see from other sources.

Those market researchers… are playing games with you and me and with this entire country. Their so-called samples of opinion are no more accurate or reliable than my grandmother’s big toe was when it came...

A college degree is the key to realizing the American dream, well worth the financial sacrifice because it is supposed to open the door to a world of opportunity.

I had just turned 10-years-old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and plunged America into World War II.

Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic.

I’m a believer in what your record is. I am what my record is – some of it good, some of it bad, some of it hard to tell.

Covering the civil-rights movement was a mind- and eye-opener for me. Houston was a segregated society, as was Texas as a whole – some of it by law, a lot of it by fear and...

From the streets of Cairo and the Arab Spring, to Occupy Wall Street, from the busy political calendar to the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan, social media was not only sharing the news but...

If I didn’t have a front-row seat on history, it was at least a seat on the aisle.

Only votes talk, everything else walks.

I’ve always tried to be fair, even-handed, not an advocate for any group.

Now, I know you expected me to say that, well, I just kick back in the rocking chair, fished a little bit, listened to Willie Nelson tapes and watched old baseball games on the Classic...

If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all.

Journalists should denounce government by public opinion polls.

The press is a watchdog. Not an attack dog. Not a lapdog. A watchdog. Now, a watchdog can’t be right all the time. He doesn’t bark only when he sees or smells something that’s dangerous....

One of the most important roles of our journalists is to be watchdogs.

And now the sequence of events in no particular order.

Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow.

Start-ups like UniversityNow, a network of low-cost, online colleges, allows students to work at their own pace and pay a few hundred dollars a month for a degree.

I’d much rather wear out than rust out.

There is no doubt that the way journalism worked when I was growing up and getting started has changed forever.

The dream begins, most of the time,with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth

Performing doesn’t turn me on. It’s an egomaniac business, filled with prima donnas – including this one.

A tough lesson in life that one has to learn is that not everybody wishes you well.

They may have turned this up, whether you had the Paula Jones case or not. But again maybe not, but again that’s like if a frog had side pockets he’d probably wear a handgun.

This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex.

What I say or do here won’t matter much, nor should it.

An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger.

The great lesson my mother and father gave me was almost invisible. It was a strong sense of being rooted.