“Good teachers know how to bring out the best in students.”

“I believe that writing is derivative. I think good writing comes from good reading.”

“I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a reporter. I don't know where I got the idea that it was a romantic calling.”

“I can't say that I've changed anybody's life, ever, and that's the real work of the world, if you want a better society.”

“I could tell you which writer's rhythms I am imitating. It's not exactly plagiarism, it's falling in love with good language and trying to imitate it.”

“I don't think I had a reputation as a hard worker, but inside I was always being eaten up by the pressures.”

“I recognize that I had a good deal of good luck in my life. I came along at a time when it was pretty easy to get a job in journalism. I went to work at CBS News when I was about 22, and within a year or so was reporting on the air.”

“I suppose I was a little bit of what would be called today a nerd. I didn't have girlfriends, and really I wasn't a very social boy.”

“I think I'd have done better if I had been a little more relaxed-if I had not pressed quite so hard, if I'd not lost quite so much sleep.”

“I used to think that driving, sleepless, ambitious labor was what you needed to succeed.”

“It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge that the whole country isn't in flames, that there are people in the country besides politicians, entertainers, and criminals.”

“It was so much fun to have the freedom to wander America, with no assignments. For 25 or 30 years I never had an assignment. These were all stories I wanted to do myself.”

“It's best to leap into something you know you love. You might change your mind later, but that is the privilege of youth.”

“Just by luck, I picked good heroes to worship.”

“Kids are always asked, What are you going to be when you grow up? I needed an answer. So instead of saying, a fireman, or a policeman, I said, a reporter.”

“Look for joy in your life; it's not always easy to find.”

“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.”

“The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines.”

“The first books I was interested in were all about baseball. But I can't think of one single book that changed my life in any way.”

“The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege.”

“There are a lot of people who are doing wonderful things, quietly, with no motive of greed, or hostility toward other people, or delusions of superiority.”

“There is such a thing as a national conscience, and it can be touched.”

“We always take credit for the good and attribute the bad to fortune.”

“When I worked in Los Angeles covering hard news, very often when something important would happen I'd be off in the woods covering something unimportant, which was more interesting to me.”

“When we become a really mature, grown-up, wise society, we will put teachers at the center of the community, where they belong. We don't honor them enough, we don't pay them enough.”

“You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars.”