George

“The reporter had to set his or her own course, had to push back against editors at times, to roam and be free to explore, to defy the conventional wisdom if necessary. It meant the reporters, whatever they covered, had to find the bookkeepers and the Deep Throats if possible. At the same time, as we had just been reminded, reporters need editors. In the end we are collaborators and they make the final calls.”
― Bob Woodward, The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat

“Reporters may believe they control the story, but the story always controls the reporters.”
― Bob Woodward, The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat

“The North Korean state was born at about the same time that Nineteen Eighty-Four was published, and one could almost believe that the holy father of the state, Kim Il Sung, was given a copy of the novel and asked if he could make it work in practice. Yet even Orwell did not dare to have it said that "Big Brother's" birth was attended by miraculous signs and portents - such as birds hailing the glorious event by singing in human words.”
― Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

“The drops (polio vaccine) were designed,said these believers. Their intention and effect was genocidal. Nobody was to swallow them, or administer them to infants. Within months, polio was back...”
― Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything