75 Quotes by Ted Koppel

Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Admire and emulate ethical behavior wherever you find it. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives; and if, periodically, you fail ­ as you surely will ­ adjust your lives, not the standards.

People shouldn't expect the mass media to do investigative stories. That job belongs to the 'fringe' media.

Our society finds truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder. It is a howling reproach.

History is a tool used by politicians to justify their intentions.

In the days of Caesar, kings had fools and jesters. Now network presidents have anchormen.

The responsibility that I feel is to do as good a job as a journalist as I can possibly do.

My function is, as objectively and accurately as I can, to present reality to people out there, and doing that as quickly as we do is quite difficult enough, thank you.

I have been an unabashed fan of NPR for many years, and have stolen untold excellent ideas from its programming.

Emotions get in the way but they don't pay me to start crying at the loss of 269 lives. They pay me to put some perspective on the situation.