Quotes by James Reston

“If its far away, its news, but if its close at home, its sociology”

“Stick with the optimists. Its going to be tough enough even if theyre right.”

“A government is the only known vessel that leaks from the top”

“This is the very devilish thing about foreign affairs: they are foreign and will not always conform to our whim”

“Europe has a press that stresses opinions; America a press, radio, and television that emphasize news.”

“The rising power of the United States in world affairs requires, not a more compliant press, but a relentless barrage of facts and criticism. Our job in this age, as I see it, is not to serve as cheerleaders for our side in the present world struggle but to help the largest possible number of people to see the realities of the changing and convulsive world in which American policy must operate.”

“The conflict between the men who make and the men who report the news is as old as time. News may be true, but it is not truth, and reporters and officials seldom see it the same way. In the old days, the reporters or couriers of bad news were often put to the gallows; now they are given the Pulitzer Prize, but the conflict goes on.”

“Americans have always been able to handle austerity and even adversity. Prosperity is what is doing us in.”

“Wealth is conspicuous, but poverty hides”

One of the advantages of defeat in life - maybe the main advantage - is that it provides an excuse for change. Defeat... invariably leads to new adventures.

Nations like individuals have to limit their objectives or take the consequences.

The grossest thing in our gross national product today is our language. It is suffering from inflation.

This was a great year for preventive worrying. Seldom in recent history have so many people worried about so many things that didnt happen in the end.

If its far away, its news, but if its close at home, its sociology.