Bob Woodward Quotes

Newspapers that are truly independent, like The Washington Post, can still aggressively investigate anyone or anything with no holds barred.

Deep Throat was a very unfortunate name given to the source by the managing editor of The Washington Post.

When you practice reporting for as long as I have, you keep yourself at a distance from True Believers. Either conservatives or liberals or Democrats or Republicans.

After Nixon resigned in 1974, he engaged in a very aggressive war with history, attempting to wipe out the Watergate stain and memory. Happily, history won, largely because of Nixon's tapes.

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

I gave my word that this source would not be identified unless he changed his mind. He has not...

Certain political figures think when you call them and ask them for a comment; that you are somehow doing something that you shouldn't be doing.

It would be absurd for me or any other editor to review the authenticity or accuracy of stories that are nominated for prizes.

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

There are people who take rumors and embellish them in a way that can be devastating. And this pollution has to be eradicated by people in our business as best we can.

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.

Any suggestion that I'm writing about political operatives because I'm interested in political operatives misses the entire point.

There may yet be another Watergate book. I have thought a book about the aftermath of Watergate and its impact could be done, perhaps by me or someone else.

The fact of the Watergate cover-up is not nearly as interesting as the step into making the cover-up. And when you understand the step, you understand that Richard Nixon lied. That he was a criminal.

In Haig's presence, Kissinger referred pointedly to military men as "dumb, stupid animals to be used" as pawns for foreign policy.

A reporter's ability to keep the bond of confidentiality often enables him to learn the hidden or secret aspects of government.

Because of Watergate in part, I am kind of a magnet for calls and information and suggestions.

I always am very aggressive and putting out much more than people would like, but that's the business I'm in.

Deep Throat did serve the public interest by providing the guidance and information to us.

I have gone on the air and announced my telephone number at the Washington Post. I go into the night, talking to people, looking for things. The great dreaded thing every reporter lives with is what you don't know. The source you didn't go to. The phone call you didn't return.

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

We're not going to have another Watergate in our lifetime. I'm sure.

I have written things that Republicans and Democrats and all kinds of figures have either hated or felt very uncomfortable about. Because in doing these long projects and books, you get close to the bone. And they're not calling me up and asking me for dinner.

We need to police ourselves in the media.

...Obama said, 'I welcome debate among my team, but I won't tolerate division'.

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.

If you interviewed 1,000 politicians and asked about whether the media's "too soft" or "too hard," about 999 would say "too hard."

Clinton feels a profound alienation from the Washington culture here, and I happen to agree with him.

He (former President Gerald Ford) made it very clear that he did not agree with the reasons President Bush laid out for the war, namely the belief that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or that there was some obligation that the United States or the president had to expand democracy.

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.

I deal with first-hand sources. And give the people, even John Sununu, the opportunity to respond to what I've been told by first-hand sources.

Reporters may believe they control the story, but the story always controls the reporters.