Edward R. Murrow Quotes in Sink the Bismarck! (1960)

Edward R. Murrow: This is London, Ed Murrow reporting. This island, which is no stranger to bad tiding, received news today that HMS Hood largest warship in the British fleet and pride of the British navy, has been sunk by the German battleship Bismarck. From the Hood's compliment of 1500 men, there were three survivors.

Edward R. Murrow: [at Gandhi's funeral] The object of this massive tribute died as he had always lived - a private man without wealth, without property, without official title or office. Mahatma Gandhi was not a commander of great armies nor ruler of vast lands. He could boast no scientific achievements or artistic gift. Yet men, governments and dignitaries from all over the world have joined hands today to pay homage to this little brown man in the loincloth who led his country to freedom. Pope Pius, the Archbishop of Canterbury, President Truman, Chiang Kai-shek, The Foreign Minister of Russia, the President of France... are among the millions here and abroad who have lamented his passing. In the words of General George C. Marshall, the American Secretary of State, "Mahatma Gandhi had become the spokesman for the conscience of mankind, a man who made humility and simple truth more powerful than empires." And Albert Einstein added, "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."

William Paley: There's a Knickerbocker game tonight, I've got front row seats. Are you interested?

Edward R. Murrow: I'm a little busy bringing down the network tonight, Bill.

Edward R. Murrow: No one familiar with the history of this country, can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating. But the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one, and the Junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always, that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men. Not from men who feared to write, to associate, to speak, and to defend the causes that were for the moment unpopular. This is no time for men who oppose Sen. McCarthy's methods to keep silent or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom wherever it continues to exist in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. The actions of the Junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his, he didn't create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right, the fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves. Good night, and good luck.

Edward R. Murrow: We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.

Edward R. Murrow: We'll split the advertising, Fred and I. He just won't have any presents for his kids at Christmas.

Sig Mickelson: He's a Jew.

Edward R. Murrow: Well don't tell him that. He loves Christmas.

Edward R. Murrow: Funny thing, Freddie, every time you light a cigarette for me, I know you're lying.

Edward R. Murrow: What'd the general have to say?

Fred Friendly: It was a colonel. Two of them.

Edward R. Murrow: That makes a general.

Edward R. Murrow: Did you know that Shirley and Joe are married?

Fred Friendly: Yeah.

Edward R. Murrow: Did everybody know?

Edward R. Murrow: You always were yellow.

Fred Friendly: Better than red.

Edward R. Murrow: We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

[last lines]

Edward R. Murrow: To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night, and good luck.

Edward R. Murrow: Did you know the most trusted man in America is Milton Berle?

Fred Friendly: See? You should have worn a dress.

Edward R. Murrow: We will not walk in fear, one of another.

[repeated line]

Edward R. Murrow: Good night, and good luck.

Fred Friendly: Did you write your closing piece?

Edward R. Murrow: It's Shakespeare.

Fred Friendly: Uh-huh. Write your closing piece.

Don Hollenbeck: I could use a scotch.

Edward R. Murrow: I think everyone could use a scotch.

Edward R. Murrow: He's gonna hope a senator trumps a newsman.

Fred Friendly: He'll lose.

Edward R. Murrow: Not if we're playing bridge.

Edward R. Murrow: [about O'Brian accusing Hollenbeck of being a leftist] Oh, forget it, no one worth their salt reads O'Brian.

Don Hollenbeck: You read him.

Edward R. Murrow: See? I rest my case.

Edward R. Murrow: Milo Radulovich.

Fred Friendly: Italian?

Edward R. Murrow: Irish.

Fred Friendly: Shirley, honey, would you go across the street and get the early editions?

Shirley Wershba: All of them?

Edward R. Murrow: Just get O'Brian.

Edward R. Murrow: [Referring to a Julius Caesar quote said by Senator McCarthy] Had Senator McCarthy looked just three lines earlier he would have found this: "The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves... "

Edward R. Murrow: Let us dream to the extent of saying that on a given Sunday night the time normally occupied by Ed Sullivan is given over to a clinical survey of the state of American education, and a week or two later the time normally used by Steve Allen is devoted to a thoroughgoing study of American policy in the Middle East.

Edward R. Murrow: It is my desire if not my duty to try to talk to you journeymen with some candor about what is happening in radio and television, and if what I say is responsible, I alone am responsible for the saying of it. Our history will be what we make of it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred year from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes of one week of all three networks, they will there find, recorded in black and white and in color, evidence of decadence, escapism, and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. We are are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable, and complacent. We have a built in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information; our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses, and recognize that television, in the main, is being use to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture, too late.

[the team have just been asked to admit to any Communist connections, no matter how vague or distant, before they do the main broadcast against McCarthy - because he will us it as ammunition against them]

Edward R. Murrow: Oh, if none of us had ever read a dangerous book or had a friend who was different, never joined an organization that advocated change, we'd all be just the kind of people Joe McCarthy wants. We're gonna go with the story, cos the terror is right here in this room.

Edward R. Murrow: He was one of those civilized individuals who did not insist upon agreement with his political principals as a precondition for conversation or friendship.

Edward R. Murrow: That's why I never plan ahead.

William Paley: Really? Because you never know...

[Drops an envelope full of evidence suggesting Murrow was on the Soviet Union's payroll]

Edward R. Murrow: Been reading fiction?

William Paley: I really hope so. You tell me.

Edward R. Murrow: Well, now we know how they will come after us.

William Paley: This is just their first shot. Somebody's going to go down.