Top 200 Bob Woodward Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Good work is always done in defiance of management.”

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

4. “The central dilemma in journalism is that you don’t know what you don’t know.”

— Bob Woodward

5. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

6. “I know I’m right,” he said. “If you disagree with me, you’re wrong.”

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

9. “Russia had privately warned Mattis that if there was a war in the Baltics, Russia would not hesitate to use tactical nuclear weapons against NATO.”

— Bob Woodward

10. “Rawhide Down is full of spectacular, original reporting.”

— Bob Woodward

11. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

13. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

14. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

15. “In Haig’s presence, Kissinger referred pointedly to military men as “dumb, stupid animals to be used” as pawns for foreign policy.”

— Bob Woodward

16. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

17. “The source known as Deep Throat provided a kind of road map through the scandal. His one consistent message was that the Watergate burglary was just the tip of the iceberg.”

— Bob Woodward

18. “A heartfelt thanks to Evelyn M. Duffy, my assistant on five books that have covered four presidents. President Trump presents a particular hurdle because of the deep emotions and passions he brings out in supporters and critics. Evelyn immediately grasped that the challenge was to get new information, authenticate it and put it in context while reporting as deeply as possible inside the White House.”

— Bob Woodward

19. “Why?” asked Priebus. “Because when you put a snake and a rat and a falcon and a rabbit and a shark and a seal in a zoo without walls, things start getting nasty and bloody. That’s what happens.”

— Bob Woodward

20. “We’re not going to have another Watergate in our lifetime. I’m sure.”

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

23. “There is a garbage culture out there, where we pour garbage on people. Then the pollsters run around and take a poll and say, do you smell anything?”

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

25. “There’s hostility to lying, and there should be.”

— Bob Woodward

26. “I recently read some of the transcripts of Nixon’s Watergate tapes, and they spent hours trying to figure out who was leaking and providing information to Carl and myself.”

— Bob Woodward

27. “Coming back from the G20 summit, Trump was editing an upcoming speech with Porter. Scribbling his thoughts in neat, clean penmanship, the president wrote, “TRADE IS BAD.” Though he never said it in a speech, he had finally found the summarizing phrase and truest expression of his protectionism, isolationism and fervent American nationalism.”

— Bob Woodward

28. “If there’s one thing that Trump does, he never quits.”

— Bob Woodward

29. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

30. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

31. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

32. “Trump had no understanding of how government functioned. At times he would just start drafting orders himself or dictating.”

— Bob Woodward

33. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

35. “We need to police ourselves in the media.”

— Bob Woodward

36. “The Washington Times wrote a story questioning the authenticity of some of the suggestions made about me in Silent Coup. But as a believer in the First Amendment, I believe they have more than a right to air their views.”

— Bob Woodward

37. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

39. “Cohn had a packet of Goldman Sachs–style charts and tables to educate the president on taxes. Trump was not interested and did not read it.”

— Bob Woodward

40. “There’s some things where he’s already reached the conclusion and it doesn’t matter what you say. It doesn’t matter what arguments you offer. He’s not listening.”

— Bob Woodward

41. “Trump arrived and sat down. Hot dogs and hamburgers were laid out. The fantasy diet of an 11-year-old kid, Bannon thought, as Trump wolfed down two hot dogs.”

— Bob Woodward

42. “It was accountability that Nixon feared.”

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

44. “I give lectures for money, but all the money goes to charity. So, I make no money from it.”

— Bob Woodward

45. “In a small group meeting in his office one day, Kelly said of the president, “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in crazytown. “I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”

— Bob Woodward

46. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

47. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

48. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

49. “Reagan was read portions of his own diary, and he said something I’ll never forget: “It’s like I wasn’t president at all”. Very sad. As I reflected about this i was sure that I didn’t want to badger Mark Felt in the same manner. i didn’t want Felt to have to say, in effect, “It’s like i wasn’t Deep Throat at all”.”

— Bob Woodward

50. “Trump liked signing. It meant he was doing things, and he had an up-and-down penmanship that looked authoritative in black Magic Marker.”

— Bob Woodward