Herbert Bayard Swope

Don't forget that the only two things people read in a story are the first and last sentences. Give them blood in the eye on the first one.

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure - which is: Try to please everybody.

The secret of a successful newspaper is to take one story each day and bang the hell out of it. Give the public what it wants to have and part of what it ought to have whether it wants it or not.

That is the definition of equal justice under law: everyone gets a fair shot, everyone pays their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.

Most reporters who come to me get their stories directly from press releases. Very few do what one would consider to be their professional duty.

For years, I've been interviewed, and they write what they thought I thought or what they thought I said. Sometimes it's accurate, and often it isn't.