Bill Moyers Quotes

Although I was brought up in a culturally and religious conservative culture, as a Baptist I was taught that no one has the right to subpoena your conscience.

When a library is open, no matter its size or shape, democracy is open, too.

Beauty is an expression of that rapture of being alive.

Barack Obama treated too lightly the people and forces determined to destroy him. They spat in his face and didn't even get ticketed for a misdemeanor.

A producer is a saboteur who tries to infiltrate the passivity of viewers and to create impressions that are lasting.

...there is no more effective public interest watchdog in Washington, D.C.

There's 1,000 ways into addiction 1,000 ways out.

Watching the debate this afternoon it was apparent they loved term limits in the House - as Brutus loved Caesar.

How can those of us who are parents help our children recognize their bliss?

We see more and more of our Presidents and know less and less about what they do.

Television can stir emotions, but it doesn't invite reflection as much as the printed page.

People who don't believe in government are likely to defy our government.

I can tell you that the job of trying to tell the truth about people whose job it is to hide the truth is about as complicated and difficult as trying to hide it in the first place.

I can't speak for a war that I believe is immoral.

I was not a public - I was not a thinker. I was a doer.

I'm the front man, I'm the man on camera, but there's a whole team beyond me.

Why is the country not having this conversation, the kind of conversation that requires the politicians who are responsible for the war to be specific to the concerns of the American people.

Journalism's been a continuing course in adult education for me.

The thing about war is that once it's triggered, it is unyielding in its appetite. And the more it consumes and gorges, the more it wants.

Lyndon Johnson believed the poor deserved a better life than the economy was providing them. He thought private power and greed had to be checked by a vibrant democracy.

In uniform patriotism can salute one flag only, embrace but the first circle of life - one's own land and tribe. In war that is necessary, in peace it is not enough.

When I was growing up, I never heard anyone pray, "Give me this day my daily bread." It was always, "Give us this day our daily bread." That stuck. We're all in this together.

The fault line in American history is now a dividing line in the election and it's changing the conversation.

America is the longest argument in the world.

Democracy only works when we claim it as our own.

Standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country.

Professionals give advice; pilgrims share wisdom.

Television is a medium. It is neither rare nor well done.

There are honest journalists like there are honest politicians - they stay bought.

What we need is what the ancient Israelites called hochma - the science of the heart...the capacity to see, to feel, and then to act as if the future depended on you. Believe me, it does.

If being tolerant of differing opinions, if believing that America has to make it as a pluralistic nation, if being civil, if that makes you a liberal, I plead guilty.

The rich today are richer, there are more of them, they have round-the-clock propaganda factories in Rupert Murdoch's empire and rightwing talk radio, and corporate media have their back.

I'm angry at what's happening to America and angry with myself that I can't do more. I would be miserable if I couldn't bear witness.

The consensual seduction of the mainstream media by and with the government is one of the most dangerous toxins at work in America today.

When the public loses faith in democracy's ability to solve the problems it has created for itself, the game's almost over. And I think we are this close to losing democracy to the mercenary class.

Constitutional democracy, you see, is no romantic notion. It's our defense against ourselves, the one foe who might defeat us.

In marriage, everyday you love, and everyday you forgive.It is an ongoing sacrament, love and forgiveness

Ideas are great arrows, but there has to be a bow. And politics is the bow of idealism.