Quotes By Bob Woodward

If you interviewed 1,000 politicians and asked about whether the media's too soft or too hard, about 999 would say too hard.

The legislator learns that when you talk a lot, you get in trouble. You have to listen a lot to make deals.

Some newspapers have a hands-off policy on favored politicians. But it's generally very small newspapers or local TV stations.

The source known as Deep Throat provided a kind of road map through the scandal. His one consistent message was that the Watergate burglary was just the tip of the iceberg.

It was accountability that Nixon feared.

The fact of the Watergate cover-up is not nearly as interesting as the step into making the cover-up. And when you understand the step, you understand that Richard Nixon lied. That he was a criminal.

After Nixon resigned in 1974, he engaged in a very aggressive war with history, attempting to wipe out the Watergate stain and memory. Happily, history won, largely because of Nixon's tapes.

There are people who take rumors and embellish them in a way that can be devastating. And this pollution has to be eradicated by people in our business as best we can.

Clinton... believes that the Washington Press Corps is so out of touch that it is absolutely inconceivable that reporters would understand the issues that people are really dealing with in their lives.

Nixon's attempts to order subversion of various departments was bound to come out in some form.

I gave my word that this source would not be identified unless he changed his mind. He has not.

Lawyers didn't seriously get involved in the Watergate stories until quite late, when we realized we were on to something.

I deal with first-hand sources. And give the people, even John Sununu, the opportunity to respond to what I've been told by first-hand sources.

I think that everyone is kind of confused about the information they get from the media and rightly so. I'm confused about the information I get from the media.

Way before Watergate, senior administration officials hid behind anonymity.

Newspapers that are truly independent, like The Washington Post, can still aggressively investigate anyone or anything with no holds barred.

A reporter's ability to keep the bond of confidentiality often enables him to learn the hidden or secret aspects of government.

The biggest rap on me is that I don't find a Watergate every couple of years. Well, Watergate was unique. It's not something Carl Bernstein, I, or the Washington Post caused.

If information is true, if it can be verified, and if it's really important, the newspaper needs to be willing to take the risk associated with using unidentified sources.

The failure of the system to deal quickly was attributable to Nixon's lying, stonewalling and refusal to come clean. So it took 26 months for the final truth to be known.

The cloud of doubt that surrounds political figures tends to remain and never dissipate or be clarified.

I'm not going to name some of my colleagues who are very well-known for their television presentation, but they wouldn't know new information or how to report a story if it came up and bit them.

Nixon had some large achievements in foreign affairs. They will be remembered. But a president probably gets remembered for one thing, and Watergate will head the Nixon list, I suspect.

Many people have their reputations as reporters and analysts because they are on television, batting around conventional wisdom. A lot of these people have never reported a story.

We need to police ourselves in the media.

People like to pigeonhole and say, Well, I'm a Washington insider, and you know, that's quite silly. What does that even mean?

I think people are smart enough to sort it out. They know when they're watching one of these food fight shows where journalists sit around and yell and scream at each other, versus serious issue reporting.

Deep Throat's information, and in my view, courage, allowed the newspaper to use what he knew and suspected.

Any suggestion that I'm writing about political operatives because I'm interested in political operatives misses the entire point.

There is a garbage culture out there, where we pour garbage on people. Then the pollsters run around and take a poll and say, do you smell anything?