Quotes by David Halberstam

Hughes might discuss Calvinism ably, but he did not live it, he was—by Time corporate standards—just a little lazy.

Being well known for being well-known did not necessarily imply intelligence.

Bobby Kennedy said that when he had been a boy there were three major influences on children – the home, the church, and the school – and now there was a fourth – television.

Newspapers might have as much to do in shaping the course of public events as politicians,

If the norm of the society is corrupted, then objective journalism is corrupted too, for it must not challenge the norm. It must accept the norm.

Education was central to reporting.

Until he (Times founder Henry Luce) arrived, news was crime and politics.

Because history became his (Keenans) genuine passion, he tended to see the world in terms of deep historical forces that, in his mind, formed a nations character in ways almost beyond the consciousness of the men who momentarily governed it, as if these historical impulses were more a part of them than they knew.

The truth posed a great dilemma for a man who always had to be right, and yet, for all his grandeur, was often wrong.

Lippmann was very good at staying young, at not aging and becoming a prisoner of his past experiences.

Nixon under pressure turned only to reporters from publications already favorable to him; Kennedy, in trouble, turned to those most critical and dubious of him, and if anything tended to take those already for him a bit for granted.

They (the media) found little quality of depth to him, that when she said on the platform with that which he said to them in private. The qualities of introspection and reflectiveness that they particularly treasured were missing.

The author describes megalomania as seen in Chairman Mao by saying that what he was familiar with, he was really familiar with. This zeal moved the megalomaniac with a complete lack of appreciation for what he DID NOT know.

Sometimes the best virtue learned on the battlefield is modesty.

Fresh from the rarefied environments of Harvard, the author says he purposefully took journalism jobs in small southern towns so that he could learn the art of conversation with ordinary people. Is this gift for listening and for conversation, it seems, that allowed him to produce textured historical narratives of grand impact.

The Patriots had picked Brady in the sixth round, and he soon turned out to be one of the two or three best quarterbacks in the League, and absolutely perfect for the Belichick system and for the teams offense. So, as the team continued to make a series of very good calls on other player personnel choices, there was a general tendency to talk about how brilliant Pioli and Belichick were, and to regard Pioli as the best young player personnel man in the League. Just to remind himself not to believe all the hype and that he could readily have screwed up on that draft, Pioli kept on his desk a photo of Brady, along with a photo of the teams fifth-round traft choice, the man he had taken ahead of Brady: Dave Stachelski. He was a Tight End from Boise State who never a played a down for New England. Stachelski was taken with the 141st pick, Brady with the 199th one. If I was so smart, Pioli liked to say, I wouldnt have risked an entire round of the draft in picking Brady.

She was young and scared, and hadnt realized there was time to spare.

The closer journalists came to great issues, the more vulnerable they felt.

He was more passionate than most intelligent men, and more intelligent and reasoned than most passionate men.

If the Times gave readers far more news, then Lippmann at the Trib made the world seem far more understandable.