Kenneth L. Pike Quotes

I am a committed observer. I like staying in the background and seeing what's going on.

I paint things as they are. I don't comment.

For me, it's always more interesting to look at things when you don't really have a horse in the race, so to speak.

The beauty of cricket is that there are so many different opinions as to the best way to do something and at times it is easier to see something when you're not emotionally involved in the game and not responsible for the decision. You can go and have a cup of tea and look at it from a different point of view.

If I want to understand something, I must observe, I must not criticize, I must not condemn, I must not pursue it as pleasure or avoid it as non-pleasure. There must merely be the silent observation of a fact.

Study everything, join nothing.

It is only about things that do not interest one that one can give a really unbiased opinion, which is no doubt the reason why an unbiased opinion is always absolutely valueless.

Can one consider controversy without falling into it?

At the end, we're kind of observers - creative people, I mean. I feel like an observer, and I'm pretty much able to step out of things and see how things are playing out.

I'm sometimes embarrassed by how clinical I can become when I'm out reporting.

Anybody who dedicates himself to exploring the human condition, there's always a detached eye that's watching. In any situation, a little part of me is observing it, to see if there are any raw materials to create something else later.

I try to avoid political ties.

The first essential in writing about anything is that the writer should have no experience of the matter.

I'm not being naive; I realise there's no such thing as a pure reading. But I'd rather keep myself as far out of it as I can.

It is necessary to look at the results of observation objectively, because you, the experimenter, might like one result better than another.

All we do is bring the debate from both sides, and let you as a viewer decide where you want to end up on the issue. That's very important. That's exactly what happens in 'Redemption Inc.'

It is not the task of a reader to please her subjects.

I am not a politician and I think that is a plus.

You can ask me any question you want, but don't ask me to criticize anyone else.

I never take anything personally when it doesn't concern me.

It serves anyone, when they're going into some project, to try to distance themselves from the material so you can really have an objective viewpoint.

I'm a big believer in,'If anyone can understand my politics, I've failed.' If you can get a sense of which side of the fence I'm on, then I'm not doing a service. I'm preaching, and that's not my job.

I don't pay attention to critics.

I personally wonder... regardless of whether you're a religious person or not, everybody comes into every conversation with a particular worldview and things that you believe are right or wrong. The question is can you counsel from a totally non-value-based position?

Critics and criticism are part of the game and I've not been affected by it.