Quotes By Jim Lehrer

I'm not in the being-annoyed business.

A skill required to be president is to explain to the American people any given thing they do.

There are very few really stark black and white stories.

I'm a journalist and that's what I do.

There's always a germ of truth in just about everything.

The shouting and opinion and jokes don't exist if there isn't first a story.

I came from a family of Marines into the family of Marines.

Preparation is based on one driving force for me and that is to be relaxed enough to be able to listen to what the candidates are saying and react appropriately.

Well, I don't know about objectivity, but I know for certain that it's always possible for a professional journalist who understands what he or she's up to to be fair, and that's the key word. Fairness to individuals, fairness to ideas, and to issues and whatever - that is critical, and that is also part and parcel of what the job.

People can get their news any way they want. What I love about what's happened is that there are so many different avenues, there are so many different outlets, so many different ways to debate and discuss and to inquire about any given news story.

You want to see an angry person? Let me hear a cell phone go off.

One of the problems is that everybody is used to the old-fashioned debate system, which is very controlled, and where the moderator plays a more active role.

In television there are only about 12 people who do what I do.

I'm in the civil discourse business. I think it takes all kinds. And more power to everybody.

I started as a print reporter.

The death rate among Marines in Iraq has been more than double that of the other services.

I'm a gatekeeper, and the gatekeepers all used to be mostly old, white men.

As I say, I'm a discourse advocate. What form it comes is less important to me than the fact that there is discourse.

Well, to tell you truth, I have learned a long time ago that the trick when doing a debate, any kind of debate, is to just turn off the judgment switch in my head.

I'm an expert on the NewsHour and it isn't how I practice journalism. I am not involved in the story. I serve only as a reporter or someone asking questions. I am not the story.

Most of the gaffes I've made have not been funny - they've been stupid.

I've always said this and finally I had a chance to demonstrate it: The moderator should be seen little and heard even less. It is up to the candidates to ask the follow-up questions and challenge one another.

People can say anything they want to. If they don't want to get the news from me, get it from somebody else. It's not something I'm going to worry about, I'm sorry.

If we're going to have debates, let's have real debates.

Everyone should get their news however they want to and in whatever form they want. I'm not going to sit back in judgment of other people and the way they do it.

Best I can do for them is to give them every piece of information I can find and let them make the judgments. That's just my basic view of my function as a journalist.

On a daily basis there are some huge ones that are, sure, from time to time, but it is helping the reader sort through all this sort of gray stuff out there.

Most of the stories I have covered in 45 years have been gray stories.

My Marine experience helped shape who I am now personally and professionally, and I am grateful for that on an almost daily basis.

I always wear blue shirts and I like wine or purple ties.