It only serves to show what sort of person a man must be who can't even get testimonials. No, no; if a man brings references, it proves nothing; but if he can't, it proves a great deal.
Joseph PulitzerRead
Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together," Pulitzer wrote. "An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself. The power to mould the future of the Republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A strong, ethical press is vital for the health of a democratic society.
Joseph Pulitzer emphasizes the critical role that a responsible and principled press plays in the functioning of a republic. He argues that the integrity of journalism directly influences the moral character of the populace and the success of democracy, suggesting that the future of the republic hinges on the integrity and dedication of future journalists.
Themes
PressDemocracyJournalismIntegrityPublic Virtue
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of ethical journalism at a media conference.
More from Joseph Pulitzer
All quotes →What a newspaper needs in its news, in its headlines, and on its editorial page is terseness, humor, descriptive power, satire, originality, good literary style, clever condensation, and accuracy, accuracy, accuracy!
Joseph PulitzerRead
Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.
Joseph PulitzerRead
If you will give the matter a moment's thought, you'll see that memory is the highest faculty of the human mind.
Joseph PulitzerRead
An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery
Joseph PulitzerRead
The American people want something terse, forcible, picturesque, striking - something that will arrest their attention, enlist their sympathy, arouse their indignation, stimulate their imagination, convince their reason, awaken their conscience.
Joseph PulitzerRead
Similar quotes
Compassion, along with love, is the face of altruism.
Dalai LamaRead
I am not questioning your honor, I am denying its existence.
George R. R. MartinRead
I came to the conclusion long ago that all religions were true and that also that all had some error in them, and while I hold by my own religion, I should hold other religions as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we were Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu; but our innermost prayer should be that a Hindu should become a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, and a Christian a better Christian.
Mahatma GandhiRead
The English think they are free. They are free only during the election of members of parliament.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
A man is a god in ruins. When men are innocent, life shall be longer, and shall pass into the immortal, as gently as we awake from dreams.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
The guarantee that our self enjoys an intended relation to the outer world is most, if not all, we ask from religion. God is the self projected onto reality by our natural and necessary optimism. He is the not-me personified.
John UpdikeRead