Quotes By Mike Wallace

When I went to Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, what I really wanted to be was a radio announcer.

I went to work when I was a young fellow and I loved what I did. And I just kept working. And when I decided that maybe the time had come for me to quit, I got depressed. What could I do if I didn't work?

I don't think I have the face - may have the voice but not the demeanor for an anchor. And I defied it.

We were the first people who did investigative stuff, who asked occasionally abrasive, occasionally confrontational questions.

Jack Kennedy was one year older than I was, and we attended the same neighborhood school.

I cared enough to read and look at and worry about the questions.

There's not a better job in journalism than the one we have, seriously on '60 Minutes' - not a better job.

I read rip-and-read news, but I wasn't a reporter. I was reading the wire, and the other thing was, I was reading commercials - and I could do a hell of a commercial.

I was so low that I wanted to exit. And I took a bunch of pills, and they were sleeping pills. And at least they would put me to sleep, and maybe I wouldn't wake up, and that was fine.

Let the answer hang there for two or three or four seconds.

I was always nosy and can you imagine a better 60 years, 40 of which or 37 of which traveling any place in the world.

I'm just not that comfortable writing so much about myself.

All I'm armed with is research.

I was copeless. Not just hopeless, but copeless. I tried to keep on working because I was ashamed of acknowledging the fact that I was depressed. You don't use that word.

Rooney, of course, he believes that he is the reason that people stick around all the way through the show. They'll put up with anything, you know, in order to get to Rooney, and that's why we're at number 16 or 14 or whatever.

To go around the world, to talk to almost anybody you want to talk to, to have enough time on the air, so that you could really tell a full story. What a voyage of discovery it was.

There's nothing, repeat, nothing to be ashamed of when you're going through a depression. If you get help, the chances of your licking it are really good. But, you have to get yourself onto a safe path.

In making the jump from a local program to the showcase of a coast-to-coast broadcast, Ted Yates and I were determined to maintain the candid, sometimes combative style we'd introduced on 'Night Beat.' But that proved easier said than done.

We used to sit around and chortle, 'Look what this guy said five years ago, and today look what he's doing. Let's stick it to him!' It's as simple as that, I swear.

But I was never, you know, when I see some kids today who are close to their parents, close to their friends... I think it's simply wonderful. I was not a happy kid. Back in those days, I remember the sick, gray days were better. Because when it was sunny I'd feel worse.

I even asked Eleanor Roosevelt difficult questions and she loved it.

You're not a nutcase if you want to go see a psychiatrist.

Even a liberal reporter is a patriot, wants the best for this country. And people, your fair and balanced friends at Fox, don't fully understand that.

I love the urgency of what we do. I like the battles that take place, the jousting.

I had my hearing aid fixed today so that I could properly hear you. I can't see as well. I now have - this has stopped me from smoking - a pacemaker, have for about the last 15 years. No, I don't like getting old.

I'm nearing the end of the road and still learning.

Yeah, I was a pretty good kid, you know, I was - I was- I was an overachiever and I worked very hard, played a hell of a fiddle.

Retiring is one thing. Being retired is something else altogether.

I met all these important people and did all these stories, but I always had such excellent producers and assistants. I could show up to interview a world leader or a criminal and they would have things so well prepared anyone could have done it. It wasn't about 'me,' it was about 'us.'

It's astonishing what you learn and feel and see along the way. That's why a reporter's job, as you know, is such a joy.