P. J. O'Rourke Quotes

My function is, as objectively and accurately as I can, to present reality to people out there, and doing that as quickly as we do is quite difficult enough, thank you.

Once we thought, journalists and readers alike, that if we put together enough 'facts' and gave them a fast stir, we would come up with something that, at least by the standards of short-order cooks, could be called the truth.

'Reality' is a notion that journalists take for granted.

While many people think that we as reporters are whining and that this is a time of war, we are really the conveyors of truth in a very critical time and people need to know that truth.

It's all storytelling, you know. That's what journalism is all about.

I was once a journalist. And I think of myself as a journalist, and that's it. You tell the truth. I even wrote a book called 'The Truth'.

Reality always outstrips fiction. Whatever you make up, something more incredible always pops up in real life.

As a reporter you tend to seek coherence from your subject or your source - it all needs to add up and make sense. In truth, in reality, there's often a great deal of murkiness and muddiness, confusion and contradiction.

Journalism, as practiced by some, has become something akin to professional wrestling—something to watch rather than believe.

In this Day the secrets of the earth are laid bare before the eyes of men. The pages of swiftly-appearing newspapers are indeed the mirror of the world. They reflect the deeds and the pursuits of diverse peoples and kindreds. They both reflect them and make them known. They are a mirror endowed with hearing, sight and speech. This is an amazing and potent phenomenon. However, it behooveth the writers thereof to be purged from the promptings of evil passions and desires and to be attired with the raiment of justice and equity. They should enquire into situations as much as possible and ascertain the facts, then set them down in writing.

Our mission is to report these horrors of war with accuracy and without prejudice

I reject the idea that journalists are messengers of the truth. It’s arrogant. I think journalism is a search for the little relative truths that at best keep us relatively sane.

It's about being right and trying to get the facts and get the story right, and inform, you know, the readership or the viewership. And there are some reporters that do that.

Journalism is not writing.

No, that’s journalism. The truth is whatever you can’t escape.

As a journalist, your job is to bear witness.

There is no journalist without opinions, and there's no real objectivity, but we can strive toward it.

I know we journalists have a reputation for being cynics. We do. It's our job to question - everything.

It's my job as a reporter to not be about the business of making friends or enemies but just be in the tireless pursuit of truth.

The first rule of hip-hop is probably keep it real. And that can mean a lot of different things, but that's certainly important in reporting and storytelling.

The reporting has always been what drives me.

I tell the truth. That's my training as a reporter.

I don't go into the newsroom and people start salivating. I can't think of anything further from the truth.

I'm not in the business of being 'friendly.' First and foremost, I'm a journalist. My business is the truth. Now, I happen to be other things, too - a pop-culture phenomenon, the most in-demand speaker on the campus lecture circuit, whatever. But I believe in facts.

I had a very strong background in journalism, so it's my instinct to try to be as fair and accurate as possible.