Quotes By Bob Woodward

Deep Throat did serve the public interest by providing the guidance and information to us.

I think journalism gets measured by the quality of information it presents, not the drama or the pyrotechnics associated with us.

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.

I recently read some of the transcripts of Nixon's Watergate tapes, and they spent hours trying to figure out who was leaking and providing information to Carl and myself.

There's hostility to lying, and there should be.

Deep Throat was a very unfortunate name given to the source by the managing editor of The Washington Post.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

It was accountability that Nixon feared.

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 give lectures for money, but all the money goes to charity. So, I make no money from it.

There may yet be another Watergate book. I have thought a book about the aftermath of Watergate and its impact could be done, perhaps by me or someone else.

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.

I don't think there will ever be a permanent truce, but I believe the media needs to be more careful and be willing to count to 10 before rushing on the air or into print.

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.

I believe Watergate shows that the system did work. Particularly the Judiciary and the Congress, and ultimately an independent prosecutor working in the Executive Branch.

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.

Using these unnamed sources, if done properly, carefully and fairly, provides more accountability in government.

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

I have written things that Republicans and Democrats and all kinds of figures have either hated or felt very uncomfortable about. Because in doing these long projects and books, you get close to the bone. And they're not calling me up and asking me for dinner.

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.