Jay Carney Quotes

When I became press secretary my father sent me a telegram and said, "Tell the truth if you can and if you can't tell the truth, don't tell a lie." That became very difficult to do.

Twenty five years in Washington has taught me never to tell a lie to a reporter.

By and large, our leaders don’t lie to us.

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

I'm not a fan of people making up lies, and I do feel I owe it to people to know what the truth is.

I would never lie about another professional.

My thought process is I have been lied to so much by people who I thought I could trust that it motivates me to want to be as honest as possible, to project that energy, because that is how I want people to treat me.

Rules for a White House Spokesman: No. 1 is always tell the truth. I've got only one currency, that's the truth. There are 10,000 ways to say "no comment," and I've used 9,999 of them. The second rule is don't be afraid to say, "I don't know." You may look dumb, but if you don't know you can't give them hot air because it always shows on your face.

The truth will only be told over a career.

I never did anything dishonest.

I'm just in an unfortunate business where if you ask me a question I have to answer it honestly and if I don't answer it truthfully then I'm not respected.

You need to tell the truth to the audience, or they will throw a brick through the TV. They'll turn you off.

I refuse to lie to children.

For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.

I've always operated under the notion that audiences don't always know when they're being lied to, but that they always know when they're being told the truth.

Journalists, who are skeptical to begin with, simply do not like to be lied to or made fools of.

Being honest with the public is how they respect you.

One ought to have a good memory when he has told a lie.

I think I have gone through my entire public career never telling a lie. I have made mistakes but I never knowingly lied.

The great advantage about telling the truth is that nobody ever believes it.

The thing that I've learned, not just from writing comics but also from writing television programs like 'Law & Order,' is that you can fool some of the people some of the time - but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

I never lie to my fans.

Telling lies does not work in advertising.

As a small businessperson, you have no greater leverage than the truth.

I don't do much lying in real life because I don't get away with it.