Quotes from Bob Woodward

Nixon had some large achievements in foreign affairs. They will be remembered. But a president probably gets remembered for one thing, and Watergate will head the Nixon list, I suspect.

The biggest rap on me is that I don't find a Watergate every couple of years. Well, Watergate was unique. It's not something Carl Bernstein, I, or the Washington Post caused.

I think that everyone is kind of confused about the information they get from the media and rightly so. I'm confused about the information I get from the media.

We need to police ourselves in the media.

When you see how the President makes political or policy decisions, you see who he is. The essence of the Presidency is decision-making.

Not a season passes without new disclosures showing Nixon's numerous attempts at criminal use of his presidential powers and in fact the scorn he held for the rule of law.

When you hear in the tape recordings Nixon's own voice saying, We have to stonewall, We have to lie to the Grand Jury, We have to pay burglars a million dollars, it's all too clear the horror of what went on.

I'm not going to name some of my colleagues who are very well-known for their television presentation, but they wouldn't know new information or how to report a story if it came up and bit them.

I have found people don't want to be told. That they can figure it out.

The cloud of doubt that surrounds political figures tends to remain and never dissipate or be clarified.

I don't think there will ever be a permanent truce, but I believe the media needs to be more careful and be willing to count to 10 before rushing on the air or into print.

If information is true, if it can be verified, and if it's really important, the newspaper needs to be willing to take the risk associated with using unidentified sources.

The number of illegal activities were so large that one was bound to come out and lead to the uncovering of the others. Nixon was too willing to use the power of government to settle scores and get even with enemies.

I think journalism gets measured by the quality of information it presents, not the drama or the pyrotechnics associated with us.

Even now there is no evidence that anyone involved in the Nixon operation was going to threaten us.

Deep Throat's information, and in my view, courage, allowed the newspaper to use what he knew and suspected.

I recently did the David Letterman Show about my book. He was very serious and made no jokes and it caught me off guard a little bit. He was much more serious than some of the joke shows that journalists get on.

There's hostility to lying, and there should be.

Many people have their reputations as reporters and analysts because they are on television, batting around conventional wisdom. A lot of these people have never reported a story.

Getting up in the morning and having work you love is what makes life different for people. If you get into a position where you don't love what you're doing, get off it.

I believe there's too little patience and context to many of the investigations I read or see on television.

Using these unnamed sources, if done properly, carefully and fairly, provides more accountability in government.

The failure of the system to deal quickly was attributable to Nixon's lying, stonewalling and refusal to come clean. So it took 26 months for the final truth to be known.

Many people have their reputations as reporters and analysts because they are on television, batting around conventional wisdom. A lot of these people have never reported a story.