Freeman Dyson Quotes

Scepticism is a necessary and vital part of the journalist's toolkit. But when scepticism becomes cynicism it can close off thought and block the search for truth.

As journalists we are sceptical by nature, but there are some things you take on trust.

In journalism it is simpler to sound off than it is to find out. It is more elegant to pontificate than it is to sweat.

I have found where I am best, and that is being a fact-checker and being fearless.

Oxford also taught me something else - it taught me scepticism.

I'm not rational enough to be a good journalist.

The curse of a journalist is that he always has more questions than answers.

I have learned as a journalist that if you look long enough and hard enough and carefully enough, most truths are discoverable.

You can’t report on something that you don’t know about.

Question everything!

A healthy skepticism, regularly exercised…

The heart and soul of good writing is research; you should write not what you know but what you can find out about.

Journalists who swallow the subject's account whole and publish it are not journalists but publicists.

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

I'm a reporter by nature and training. I like things that make sense.

You've accepted a lot of things without evidence. Find out what the evidence is for that. Find out what the evidence is for everything that you accept.

I've been a journalist for too long to stop calling myself a journalist, and also when I'm doing 'Fake or Fortune?' I'm going through a rigorous investigation.

I am an old journalist, so I always do a lot of research and dive deep into people's character, who they are, and their motivation.

What I learned in school made me a better journalist and a better writer because forensic science is, as scientific disciplines must be, about critical thinking and objective analysis.

In most daily journalism, you only fact-check something if it seems a little fishy.

As a journalist, the details always tell the story.

Great questions make great reporting.

See, I have no journalism in my background, so I wasn't practised at research or writing non-fiction, nor at handling the truth in a journalistic way. Journalists know when to call a halt and write something, but I kept on looking for answers.

A good journalist is modest; his only job is simple: to decide what counts as news.

I would never have been a good reporter because I am not accurate regarding facts.