Quotes By Dan Rather

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

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

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.

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

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 law that no one is above the law.

Are the Democrats going to dance the mandate Macarena?

Only votes talk, everything else walks.

This much we know: Journalism is not a precise science. It's, on its best day, is a crude art. We make mistakes; I make mistakes. With more than 50 years as a journalist, I have at least had the opportunity to blow more stories, make more mistakes than maybe anybody in television.

This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex.

As someone who's been covering presidential campaigns since the 1950s, I have no delusions about political reporting. Candidates bargaining access to get the kind of news coverage they want is nothing new.

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

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

Ratings don't last. Good journalism does.

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 to predicting the weather.

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

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

But we cannot rely on memorials and museums alone. We can tell ourselves we will never forget and we likely won't. But we need to make sure that we teach history to those who never had the opportunity to remember in the first place.

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

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.

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

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 driving it.

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 been far from perfect.

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 Sports network. And, tell you the truth, I have done that for maybe about five total minutes.

Never eat spinach just before going on the air.

To err is human but to really foul up requires a computer.

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

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

A free and truly independent press - fiercely independent when necessary - is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy.

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.

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