Top 200 Bob Woodward Quotes (2024 Update)
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51. “I think people are smart enough to sort it out. They know when they’re watching one of these food fight shows where journalists sit around and yell and scream at each other, versus serious issue reporting.”

— Bob Woodward

52. “Trump had failed the President Lincoln test. He had not put a team of political rivals or competitors at the table, Priebus concluded. “He puts natural predators at the table,” Priebus said later. “Not just rivals – predators.”

— Bob Woodward

53. “I think the problem in the Republican Party is really not money. I think they’ve got lots of it. I think it is theory of the case – why are we here, what is our message, how to connect to the real world.”

— Bob Woodward

54. “You couldn’t talk to him in adult logic. Teenage logic was necessary.”

— Bob Woodward

55. “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

56. “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

57. “I believe Watergate shows that the system did work. Particularly the Judiciary and the Congress, and ultimately an independent prosecutor working in the Executive Branch.”

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

59. “Despite almost daily reports of chaos and discord in the White House, the public did not know how bad the internal situation actually was. Trump was always shifting, rarely fixed, erratic. He would get in a bad mood, something large or small would infuriate him, and he would say about the KORUS trade agreement, “We’re withdrawing today.”

— Bob Woodward

60. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

61. “Cohn removed the letter draft from the Resolute Desk. He placed it in a blue folder marked “KEEP.” “I stole it off his desk,” he later told an associate. “I wouldn’t let him see it. He’s never going to see that document. Got to protect the country.”

— Bob Woodward

62. “President Trump is a good listener, Mattis said, as long as you don’t hit one of his third rails – immigration and the press are the two big ones. If you hit one, he is liable to go off on a tangent and not come back for a long time. “Secretaries of Defense don’t always get to choose the president they work for.” Everyone laughed.”

— Bob Woodward

63. “Melania Trump had come down and wandered behind the sofa where Conway was proposing they sit. It was clear she was seething. “Not doing that,” Melania said in her Slovenian accent, dismissively waving her hand. “No way. No, no, no.” Bannon believed she had the most influence with Trump of anyone, that she could discern who was sucking up and who was telling the truth. “Behind the scenes she’s a hammer.”

— Bob Woodward

64. “After McMaster left, Trump asked, “Who was that guy? He wrote a book didn’t he? It said bad things about people. I thought you told me he was in the Army.” “He is in the Army.” “He’s dressed like a beer salesman,” the president said. Bannon, noted for his terrible wardrobe, agreed. He thought McMaster’s suit looked like it cost only $ 200, or maybe only $ 100.”

— Bob Woodward

65. “Way before Watergate, senior administration officials hid behind anonymity.”

— Bob Woodward

66. “He talked about how tariffs risked roiling the markets and jeopardizing a lot of the stock market gains. He said the tariffs would be, in effect, a tax on American consumers. Tariffs would take away a lot of the good that Trump had done through tax and regulatory reform. You’re the globalist, Trump said. I don’t even care what you think anymore, Gary. Trump shooed him away. Cohn retreated to a couch.”

— Bob Woodward

67. “Watergate provides a model case study of the interaction and powers of each of the branches of government. It also is a morality play with a sad and dramatic ending.”

— Bob Woodward

68. “The others were silent and only seemed to be encouraging Trump. Porter was appalled that the president was even considering a preemptive withdrawal from NAFTA.”

— Bob Woodward

69. “Grievance was a big part of Trump’s core, very much like a 14-year-old boy who felt he was being picked on unfairly. You couldn’t talk to him in adult logic. Teenage logic was necessary.”

— Bob Woodward

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

— Bob Woodward

71. “In Bannon’s evaluation, Trump was Archie Bunker, but a really focused Archie Bunker.”

— Bob Woodward

72. “Suppose Watergate had not been uncovered? I’d still be on the City Desk.”

— Bob Woodward

73. “Actually you’ve never voted in a primary except once in your entire life,” Bossie said, citing the record.”

— Bob Woodward

74. “Rudy, you’re a baby!” Trump said loudly. “I’ve never seen a worse defense of me in my life. They took your diaper off right there. You’re like a little baby that needed to be changed. When are you going to be a man?”

— Bob Woodward

75. “Trump’s obsessive and unfiltered venting had brought him to the edge once again.”

— Bob Woodward

76. “He acted like doing too much advance preparation would diminish his skills in improvising.”

— Bob Woodward

77. “Navarro publicly said. “My function really as an economist is to try to provide the underlying analytics that confirm his intuition. And his intuition is always right in these matters.”

— Bob Woodward

78. “People like to pigeonhole and say, Well, I’m a Washington insider, and you know, that’s quite silly. What does that even mean?”

— Bob Woodward

79. “Mr. President, you’ve got to buy some democrats,” Graham said. The good news is they come cheap.”

— Bob Woodward

80. “His attention span is like a minus number,” Fauci said privately.”

— Bob Woodward

81. “The president proceeded to lecture and insult the entire group about how they didn’t know anything when it came to defense or national security. It seems clear that many of the president’s senior advisers, especially those in the national security realm, are extremely concerned with his erratic nature, his relative ignorance, his inability to learn, as well as what they consider his dangerous views.”

— Bob Woodward

82. “They need to review this secret world. We have an incredibly powerful government that gets on automatic pilot.”

— Bob Woodward

83. “I have found people don’t want to be told. That they can figure it out.”

— Bob Woodward

84. “Don’t lecture Trump. He doesn’t like professors. He doesn’t like intellectuals. Trump was a guy who “never went to class. Never got the syllabus. Never took a note. Never went to a lecture. The night before the final, he comes in at midnight from the fraternity house, puts on a pot of coffee, takes your notes, memorizes as much as he can, walks in at 8 in the morning and gets a C. And that’s good enough. He’s going to be a billionaire.”

— Bob Woodward

85. “Nixon’s attempts to order subversion of various departments was bound to come out in some form.”

— Bob Woodward

86. “Trump was a guy who “never went to class. Never got the syllabus.”

— Bob Woodward

87. “There was no turning back. Trump had crossed the point of no return. To the Trump opponents and haters, he was un-American, racist.”

— Bob Woodward

88. “What do you mean? Trump asked. Just run the presses – print money.”

— Bob Woodward

89. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

90. “Senator John McCain called Charlottesville “a confrontation between our better angels and our worst demons. White supremacists and neo-Nazis are, by definition, opposed to American patriotism and the ideals.”

— Bob Woodward

91. “Everyone wants your position,” Trump continued. “I made a huge mistake giving it to you.” The president continued with venom. It was chilling. Cohn had never been talked to or treated like that in his life. “This is treason,” Trump said.”

— Bob Woodward

92. “The reality was that the United States in 2017 was tethered to the words and actions of an emotionally overwrought, mercurial and unpredictable leader. Members of his staff had joined to purposefully block some of what they believed were the president’s most dangerous impulses. It was a nervous breakdown of the executive power of the most powerful country in the world.”

— Bob Woodward

93. “It seems clear that many of the president’s senior advisers, especially those in the national security realm, are extremely concerned with his erratic nature, his relative ignorance, his inability to learn, as well as what they consider his dangerous views.”

— Bob Woodward

94. “Eventually Porter developed a routine and would bring in two to 10 decision memos for him to sign each day. 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

95. “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.”

— Bob Woodward

96. “Conway agreed with Bannon that if the Trump campaign could make the race about Hillary, not Trump, they would win with those hidden Trump voters. If the race stayed about Trump, “we’ll probably lose.”

— Bob Woodward

97. “Many on Twitter wondered if Trump had violated the platform’s terms of service by threatening nuclear war.”

— Bob Woodward

98. “Trump had a way of appearing to strengthen his own hand by creating a situation, often risky, that did not previously exist.”

— Bob Woodward

99. “I don’t think voters give a hoot about the character of their political advisors, except to the extent that character reflects on the candidates.”

— Bob Woodward

100. “Everybody’s trying to get me,” the president said.”

— Bob Woodward