Quotes about press
page 10

Konrad Heiden photo

“Newspapers blew on dirty floors. Littering is an ancillary function of the free press.”

Roger Kahn (1927–2020) American baseball writer

Afterwords on the Life of Kings, p. 436
The Boys Of Summer

Ricardo Sanchez photo
John Marshall Harlan II photo
Charles Lindbergh photo
John Bright photo
William O. Douglas photo
Charles Evans Hughes photo
Gabriel García Márquez photo
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay photo
Walter Cronkite photo
Lee Kuan Yew photo
Peter F. Drucker photo
Mort Sahl photo
Robert Charles Wilson photo
Mike Pence photo

“In televisionland we are all sophisticated enough now to realize that every statistic has an equal and opposite statistic somewhere in the universe. It is not a candidate's favorite statistic per se that engages us, but the assurance with which he can use it.
We are testing the candidates for self-confidence, for "Presidentiality" in statistical bombardment. It doesn't really matter if their statistics be homemade. What settles the business is the cool with which they are dropped.
And so, as the second half hour treads the decimaled path toward the third hour, we become aware of being locked in a tacit conspiracy with the candidates. We know their statistics go to nothing of importance, and they know we know, and we know they know we know.
There is total but unspoken agreement that the "debate," the arguments which are being mustered here, are of only the slightest importance.
As in some primitive ritual, we all agree — candidates and onlookers — to pretend we are involved in a debate, although the real exercise is a test of style and manners. Which of the competitors can better execute the intricate maneuvers prescribed by a largely irrelevant ritual?
This accounts for the curious lack of passion in both performers. Even when Ford accuses Carter of inconsistency, it is done in a flat, emotionless, game-playing style. The delivery has the tuneless ring of an old press release from the Republican National Committee. Just so, when Carter has an opportunity to set pulses pounding by denouncing the Nixon pardon, he dances delicately around the invitation like a maiden skirting a bog.
We judge that both men judge us to be drained of desire for passion in public life, to be looking for Presidents who are cool and noninflammable. They present themselves as passionless technocrats using an English singularly devoid of poetry, metaphor and even coherent forthright declaration.
Caught up in the conspiracy, we watch their coolness with fine technical understanding and, in the final half hour, begin asking each other for technical judgments. How well is Carter exploiting the event to improve our image of him? Is Ford's television manner sufficiently self-confident to make us sense him as "Presidential"?
It is quite extraordinary. Here we are, fully aware that we are being manipulated by image projectionists, yet happily asking ourselves how obligingly we are submitting to the manipulation. It is as though a rat running a maze were more interested in the psychologist's charts on his behavior than in getting the cheese at the goal line.”

Russell Baker (1925–2019) writer and satirst from the United States

"And All of Us So Cool" (p.340)
There's a Country in My Cellar (1990)

Laura Dern photo
David Brin photo
Nelson Mandela photo

“A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy. The press must be free from state interference. It must have the economic strength to stand up to the blandishments of government officials. It must have sufficient independence from vested interests to be bold and inquiring without fear or favour. It must enjoy the protection of the constitution, so that it can protect our rights as citizens.”

Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist

Nelson Mandela on freedom of expression, At the international press institute congress (14 February 1994). Source: From Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations © 2010 by Nelson R. Mandela and The Nelson Mandela Foundation http://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/mini-site/selected-quotes
1990s

Donald J. Trump photo
Stella Vine photo
Kris Kobach photo
Lester del Rey photo
Ellen Willis photo
Robert Frost photo

“Pressed into service means pressed out of shape.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

"The Self-seeker" (1914)
1910s

John Byrne photo

“I’d go back to 1975. I commented elsewhere, recently, that pressing the “rewind” button would be a good idea, as long as it was done across the board, and not piecemeal or in stealth mode, a la “Birthright.” Take all the characters back to their status quo circa 1975, but set the stories now. Since the most anal-retentive fanboys need “explanations” for everything, have the Shaper of Worlds do it at M*****. Not sure who’d be up for the job at DC.”

John Byrne (1950) American author and artist of comic books

2004
https://web.archive.org/web/20090207020226/http://www.network54.com/Forum/248951/thread/1082467515/last-1082574445/Complete+DCU+And+M%2A%2A%2A%2A%2A++Universe++Overhauls.
On taking comics back to the basics; ‘rewinding’ or ‘resetting’ to the status quo

Bruce Hawker photo
Harry Emerson Fosdick photo

“God is not a cosmic bell-boy for whom we can press a button to get things done.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American pastor

As I See Religion (1932)

Qin Gang photo
Jean Baudrillard photo
Arthur Ponsonby photo
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay photo
William Westmoreland photo
Francis Escudero photo

“Then as now, the position of Eddie Monteclaro, president of the National Press Club at that time, remains relevant.”

Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician

2009, Statement: I Stand by the Side of Freedom

Christopher Hitchens photo
Koenraad Elst photo
Ayn Rand photo
Markiplier photo

“"'Press Control to calm yourself'." [breathes and presses Control key] "Oh, that just crouches me. How does that calm myself?"”

Markiplier (1989) American YouTuber and Internet personality

Video game commentary, Calm Time (November 23, 2013)

Philip Schaff photo

“After the invention of the printing-press, and before the Reformation, this mediaeval German Bible was more frequently printed than any other except the Latin Vulgate.”

Philip Schaff (1819–1893) American Calvinist theologian

German versions of the Bible that preceded the Luther Bible

“The courage to press on regardless—regardless of whether we face calm seas or rough seas, and especially when the market storms howl around us—is the quintessential attribute of the successful investor.”

John Bogle (1929–2019)

Speech at the Trinity University Policymaker Breakfast Series, April 16, 2001 ( http://www.vanguard.com/bogle_site/sp20010416.html)

James Clapper photo
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen photo
John McCain photo
The Mother photo

“Yes, indeed, I do feel the weight of the world's miseries pressing upon me!”

The Mother (1878–1973) spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo

Response when her mother asked her: Why do you sit thus with a set face, as if the whole world were pressing upon you? in "Birth and Girlhood", and in The Mother (of Sri Aurobindo Ashram) by Prema Nandakumar (1977) http://books.google.co.in/books?id=R1sqAAAAYAAJ, p. 1

Christopher Hitchens photo
William Makepeace Thackeray photo
Richard Cobden photo

“I have generally made it a rule to parry the inquiries and comparisons which the Americans are so apt to thrust at an Englishman. On one or two occasions, when the party has been numerous and worth powder and shot, I have, however, on being hard pressed, and finding my British blood up, found the only mode of allaying their inordinate vanity to be by resorting to this mode of argument:—"I admit all that you or any other person can, could, may, or might advance in praise of the past career of the people of America. Nay, more, I will myself assert that no nation ever did, and in my opinion none ever will, achieve such a title to respect, wonder, and gratitude in so short a period; and further still, I venture to allege that the imagination of statesmen never dreamed of a country that should in half a century make such prodigious advances in civilization and real greatness as yours has done. And now I must add, and I am sure you, as intelligent, reasonable men, will go with me, that fifty years are too short a period in the existence of nations to entitle them to the palm of history. No, wait the ordeal of wars, distresses, and prosperity (the most dangerous of all), which centuries of duration are sure to bring to your country. These are the test, and if, many ages hence, your descendants shall be able only to say of their country as much as I am entitled to say of mine now, that for seven hundred years we have existed as a nation constantly advancing in liberty, wealth, and refinement; holding out the lights of philosophy and true religion to all the world; presenting mankind with the greatest of human institutions in the trial by jury; and that we are the only modern people that for so long a time withstood the attacks of enemies so heroically that a foreign foe never put foot in our capital except as a prisoner (this last is a poser);—if many centuries hence your descendants will be entitled to say something equivalent to this, then, and not till then, will you be entitled to that crown of fame which the historian of centuries is entitled to award."”

Richard Cobden (1804–1865) English manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman

Letter to F. Cobden (5 July 1835) during his visit to the United States, quoted in John Morley, The Life of Richard Cobden (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1905), pp. 33-34.
1830s

Steven Novella photo
Charles Lamb photo

“I read your letters with my sister, and they give us both abundance of delight. Especially they please us two, when you talk in a religious strain,—not but we are offended occasionally with a certain freedom of expression, a certain air of mysticism, more consonant to the conceits of pagan philosophy, than consistent with the humility of genuine piety. To instance now in your last letter—you say, “it is by the press [sic], that God hath given finite spirits both evil and good (I suppose you mean simply bad men and good men), a portion as it were of His Omnipresence!” Now, high as the human intellect comparatively will soar, and wide as its influence, malign or salutary, can extend, is there not, Coleridge, a distance between the Divine Mind and it, which makes such language blasphemy? Again, in your first fine consolatory epistle you say, “you are a temporary sharer in human misery, that you may be an eternal partaker of the Divine Nature.” What more than this do those men say, who are for exalting the man Christ Jesus into the second person of an unknown Trinity,—men, whom you or I scruple not to call idolaters? Man, full of imperfections, at best, and subject to wants which momentarily remind him of dependence; man, a weak and ignorant being, “servile” from his birth “to all the skiey influences,” with eyes sometimes open to discern the right path, but a head generally too dizzy to pursue it; man, in the pride of speculation, forgetting his nature, and hailing in himself the future God, must make the angels laugh. Be not angry with me, Coleridge; I wish not to cavil; I know I cannot instruct you; I only wish to remind you of that humility which best becometh the Christian character. God, in the New Testament (our best guide), is represented to us in the kind, condescending, amiable, familiar light of a parent: and in my poor mind ’tis best for us so to consider of Him, as our heavenly Father, and our best Friend, without indulging too bold conceptions of His nature. Let us learn to think humbly of ourselves, and rejoice in the appellation of “dear children,” “brethren,” and “co-heirs with Christ of the promises,” seeking to know no further… God love us all, and may He continue to be the father and the friend of the whole human race!”

Charles Lamb (1775–1834) English essayist

Lamb's letter to Coleridge in Oct. 24th, 1796. As quoted in Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (1905). Letter 11.

Karlheinz Deschner photo

“Free press: all may read whatever is printed.”

Karlheinz Deschner (1924–2014) German writer and activist

Freie Presse: jeder darf lesen, was gedruckt wird.
Nur Lebendiges schwimmt gegen den Strom

Gustave Courbet photo
Robert Fogel photo
Taylor Caldwell photo
Margaret Thatcher photo

“The President of the Commission, M. Delors, said at a press conference the other day that he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the Community, he wanted the Commission to be the Executive and he wanted the Council of Ministers to be the Senate. No. No. No.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

Debate in the House of Commons (30 October 1990) http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm198990/cmhansrd/1990-10-30/Debate-1.html
Third term as Prime Minister

Scott Ritter photo

“One of the big problems is — and here goes the grenade — Israel. The second you mention the word "Israel," the nation Israel, the concept Israel, many in the American press become very defensive. We’re not allowed to be highly critical of the state of Israel. And the other thing we’re not allowed to do is discuss the notion that Israel and the notion of Israeli interests may in fact be dictating what America is doing, that what we’re doing in the Middle East may not be to the benefit of America’s national security, but to Israel’s national security. But, see, we don’t want to talk about that, because one of the great success stories out there is the pro-Israeli lobby that has successfully enabled themselves to blend the two together, so that when we speak of Israeli interests, they say, "No, we’re speaking of American interests."It’s interesting that AIPAC and other elements of the Israeli Lobby don’t have to register as agents of a foreign government. It would be nice if they did, because then we’d know when they’re advocating on behalf of Israel or they’re advocating on behalf of the United States of America.I would challenge The New York Times to sit down and do a critical story on Israel, on the role of Israel’s influence, the role that Israel plays in influencing American foreign policy. There’s nothing wrong with Israel trying to influence American foreign policy. Let me make that clear. The British seek to influence our foreign policy. The French seek to influence our foreign policy. The Saudis seek to influence our foreign policy. The difference is, when they do this and they bring American citizens into play, these Americans, once they take the money of a foreign government and they advocate on behalf of that foreign government, they register themselves as an agent of that government, so we know where they’re coming from. That’s all I ask the Israelis to do. Let us know where you’re coming from, because stop confusing the American public that Israel’s interests are necessarily America’s interests.I have to tell you right now, Israel has a viable, valid concern about Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. If I were an Israeli, I would be extremely concerned about Hezbollah, and I would want to do everything possible to nullify that organization. As an American, I will tell you, Hezbollah does not threaten the national security of the United States of America one iota. So we should not be talking about using American military forces to deal with the Hezbollah issue. That is an Israeli problem. And yet, you’ll see The New York Times, The Washington Post and other media outlets confusing the issue. They want us to believe that Hezbollah is an American problem. It isn’t, ladies and gentleman. Hezbollah was created three years after Israel invaded Lebanon, not three years after the United States invaded Lebanon. And Hezbollah’s sole purpose was to liberate southern Lebanon from Israeli occupation. I’m not here to condone or sing high praises in virtue for Hezbollah. But I’m here to tell you right now, Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization that threatens the security of the United States of America.”

Scott Ritter (1961) American weapons inspector and writer

October 16, 2006
2006

Grace Kelly photo

“The freedom of the press works in such a way that there is not much freedom from it.”

Grace Kelly (1929–1982) American actress and Princess consort of Monaco

Attributed to Kelly in: Robert Andrews Ed. (1987) The Routledge dictionary of quotations. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Books. p. 209

Francis Bacon photo
John Bright photo

“[Gladstone] gave me a long memorandum, historical in character, on the past Irish story, which seemed to be somewhat one-sided, leaving out of view the important minority and the views and feelings of the Protestant and loyal portion of the people. He explained much of his policy as to a Dublin Parliament, and as to Land purchase. I objected to the Land policy as unnecessary—the Act of 1881 had done all that was reasonable for the tenants—why adopt the policy of the rebel party, and get rid of landholders, and thus evict the English garrison as the rebels call them? I denied the value of the security for repayment. Mr G. argued that his finance arrangements would be better than present system of purchase, and that we were bound in honour to succour the landlords, which I contested. Why not go to the help of other interests in Belfast and Dublin? As to Dublin Parliament, I argued that he was making a surrender all along the line—a Dublin Parliament would work with constant friction, and would press against any barrier he might create to keep up the unity of the three Kingdoms. What of a volunteer force, and what of import duties and protection as against British goods? … I thought he placed far too much confidence in the leaders of the rebel party. I could place none in them, and the general feeling was and is that any terms made with them would not be kept, and that through them I could not hope for reconciliation with discontented and disloyal Ireland.”

John Bright (1811–1889) British Radical and Liberal statesman

Bright's diary entry (20 March 1886), quoted in G. M. Trevelyan, The Life of John Bright (London: Constable, 1913), p. 447.
1880s

Calvin Coolidge photo
Nicholas Serota photo
Tom Stoppard photo
Mohamed ElBaradei photo
William Pfaff photo

“It is one of the perceptual defects of Western government and press to assign Western-style motives to what people do in non-Western societies, as if these are universally relevant.”

William Pfaff (1928–2015) American journalist

Source: Barbarian Sentiments - How The American Century Ends (1989), Chapter 5, Nationalism, p. 147.

Agatha Christie photo
Marie-Louise von Franz photo

“Just as the mother influence is formative with a man's anima, the father has a determining influence on the animus of a daughter. The father imbues his daughter's mind with the specific coloring conferred by those indisputable views mentioned above, which in reality are so often missing in the daughter. For this reason the animus is also sometimes represented as a demon of death. A gypsy tale, for example, tells of a woman living alone who takes in an unknown handsome wanderer and lives with him in spite of the fact that a fearful dream has warned her that he is the king of the dead. Again and again she presses him to say who he is. At first he refuses to tell her, because he knows that she will then die, but she persists in her demand. Then suddenly he tells her he is death. The young woman is so frightened that she dies. Looked at from the point of view of mythology, the unknown wanderer here is clearly a pagan father and god figure, who manifests as the leader of the dead (like Hades, who carried off Persephone). He embodies a form of the animus that lures a woman away from all human relationships and especially holds her back from love with a real man. A dreamy web of thoughts, remote from life and full of wishes and judgments about how things "ought to be," prevents all contact with life. The animus appears in many myths, not only as death, but also as a bandit and murderer, for example, as the knight Bluebeard, who murdered all his wives.”

Marie-Louise von Franz (1915–1998) Swiss psychologist and scholar

Source: Archetypal Dimensions of the Psyche (1994), The Animus, a Woman's Inner Man, p. 319 - 320

Hermann Hesse photo
Alfred Noyes photo
William Cobbett photo

“But what is to be the fate of the great wen of all? The monster, called, by the silly coxcombs of the press, "the metropolis of the empire?"”

William Cobbett (1763–1835) English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist

Cobbett's Weekly Political Register (5 January 1822).

Chris Rea photo
Mark Kurlansky photo
W.E.B. Du Bois photo

“The time must come when, great and pressing as change and betterment may be, they do not involve killing and hurting people.”

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963) American sociologist, historian, activist and writer

Source: The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois (2003), p. 74

Charlie Brooker photo
Amitabh Bachchan photo

“Andre Almeida. Back in, by Veloso. Oh, it's a miscue to Nani! Oh my goodness, me! The USA pressed the 'self-destruct' button there! A catastrophe in the U. S. defense.”

Ian Darke (1950) British association football and boxing commentator

United States v. Portugal http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=gQC2SusDfIw (22 June 2014).
2010s, 2014, 2014 FIFA World Cup

Gregory Benford photo

“Somehow to them, the press was always the judge of things scientific.”

Source: Timescape (1980), Chapter 17 (p. 236, concerning cranks)

“There is a pressing need to integrate the study of international economics with the study of international politics to deepen our comprehension of the forces at work in the world.”

Robert Gilpin (1930–2018) Political scientist

Introduction, p. 3
The Political Economy of International Relations (1987)

Thomas Aquinas photo

“O saving Victim, opening wide
The gate of heaven to man below,
Our foes press on from every side,
Thine aid supply, Thy strength bestow.”

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican scholastic philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church

Verbum Supernum Prodiens (hymn for Lauds on Corpus Christi), stanza 5 (O Salutaris Hostia)

Vasil Bykaŭ photo

“Today he (Lukashenka) won by the hands of "gorillas" in black masks. Already it is clear that there will be no Parliament in Belarus, no democratic election. The remains of a free press will disappear. A presidential Junta will govern the country… Well, we can congratulate Belarusians on the previous elections. Worse cannot be done. For ourselves, for society and for future generations.”

Vasil Bykaŭ (1924–2003) Belarusian writer

about results of Belarusian presidential election, 1994
“Ён Прыехаў, Сам Памёр, Усё Спакойна…” Апошнія Тыдні Васіля Быкава https://www.svaboda.org/amp/24853764.html // svaboda.org
(in Belarusian)

Edward Rutledge photo

“I always considered an idle Life, as a real evil, but, a life of such hurry, such constant hurry, leaves us scarcely a moment for reflection or for the discharge of any other then the most immediate and pressing concerns.”

Edward Rutledge (1749–1800) American politician

As quoted in John and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina (1997) by James Haw; ISBN 0-820-31859-0), p. 233

Charles Bell photo
Arthur Scargill photo
Alija Izetbegović photo
Ramachandra Guha photo
Winston S. Churchill photo
Johannes Lichtenauer photo

“David Lindholm & Peter Svärd, Sigmund Ringeck's Knightly Art of the Longsword, Paladin Press (2003), ISBN 1-58160-410-6”

Johannes Lichtenauer (1300–1389) Founder and grand master of the German School of Swordsmanship

References

Calvin Coolidge photo
Irving Kristol photo

“[A neoconservative is] a liberal who has been mugged by reality. A neoliberal is a liberal who got mugged by reality but has not pressed charges.”

Irving Kristol (1920–2009) American columnist, journalist, and writer

Reflections of a Neoconservative: Looking Back, Looking Ahead (1983).
1980s

Luis Buñuel photo

“Frankly, despite my distaste of the press, I'd love to rise from the grave every ten years or so and go buy a few newspapers.”

Luis Buñuel (1900–1983) film director

Mon Dernier soupir (My Last Sigh, 1983)

Koenraad Elst photo
Mukesh Ambani photo

“[Internet] the biggest discovery after printing press.”

Mukesh Ambani (1957) Indian business magnate

In "5 things you may not know about Mukesh Ambani".