Annie Lennox Quotes

I think any journalist who spends time in a place realizes that there are lots of stories around beyond their primary story. You meet so many interesting people and have all kinds of experiences.

You have to go where the story is to report on it. As a journalist, you're essentially running to things that other people are running away from.

The great thing about journalism is that there is so much exposure to all kinds of people who can turn up later as characters, whether you intend it or not.

I'm not an advocacy journalist - that's not what I do. My role in journalism is to be able to engage the most interesting people with the best ideas.

I think part of the reason anyone goes into journalism is to get a response to what they write.

I don't know what makes a good feature story. I've always assumed that if it was a story that interested or amused me, that it would have the same impact on other people.

Thank God for the tough times. They are the reason you are there - to be the leader. If everything was going well, the people wouldn't need you!

As a journalist, I've felt as if it's a privilege that people share their stories and want you to be the messenger.... Even in my current job, when I go abroad, I'm racing to get back to the president and the secretary to share what I've seen.

Reporters are not merely recording devices that take down what people say and repeat it in print; we are expected to use our knowledge and experience both for triage - deciding what's important to cover and what isn't - and for contextualizing, analyzing and such.

I feel like my job is to make impact, spread love, tell great stories, inspire people, that's what I am going to do.

My whole life has been spent with people who have taken every knock in the world. No advantages. Yet they greet you with a big smile, they give you what they have, and they keep coming back. They are the fighters.

I think I'm a reporter's editor. Being a good reporter is a specific skill, one I admire and don't possess myself - I appreciate people who know how to ask the right questions, who are excellent researchers, who know how to assemble information, and I enjoy working with them to shape their information into an article. Good reporters tend to be receptive to editing, and to a more collaborative form of writing in general, and you always end up learning more from how they work than you expect you will.

Obviously I love doing newsmaker interviews, and if I can contribute in any way to that, I would love to. I love reporting, getting out in the field and talking to people about various issues.

For me, a story's a story if people want to hear it; it's very much based on oral storytelling. And for me, a story is a story when people give me the privilege of listening when I'm speaking it out loud.

What gives me the greatest satisfaction is the number of people I can affect with my gift, with what I do. That's the most important thing to me, more important than any trophy or award.

All journalists hope that their work will inspire a broader conversation. I think that's just what journalism is.

Remember on this one thing, said Badger. The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these stories in each other's memories. This is how people care for themselves.

If you come face to face with some really challenging situations and tragic circumstances - you are going in there with a purpose. You are not going in there as a tourist.

Rather then focusing on the obstacle in your path, focus on the bridge over the obstacle.

And I thought well, if Tina Turner can go up there and she can give everything for 500 people, no matter how sick I am, I can make it happen too.

I do not lose; I just do not get decisions sometimes. You lose when you quit. I have never quit. When it comes down to a decision, judges make a decision as to which fighter they want to win the fight. I have always been able to survive no matter whom they decide to give the fight to.

I have some sort of affinity for compulsive behavior. The most interesting stories come up from the people on the outside. They don't waste energy marching to the same drummer most of us do. It gives us an opportunity to look at things in a different way, which is the purest thing cinema can do.

You have to temper the iron. Every hardship is an opportunity that you are given, an opportunity to grow. To grow is the sole purpose of existence on this planet Earth. You will not grow if you sit in a beautiful flower garden, but you will grow if you are sick, if you are in pain, if you experience losses, and if you do not put your head in the sand, but take the pain as a gift to you with a very, very specific purpose.

That is a question we cannot answer before, or even during, the trials. Only when we have overcome them do we understand why they were there.

There will always be people in your life who treat you wrong. Be sure to thank them for making you strong.