Rereading A.J. Liebling carries me happily back to an age when all good journalists knew they had plenty to be modest about, and were.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the importance of humility among journalists and the value of revisiting great work.
Russell Baker's quote emphasizes a nostalgic appreciation for a time when good journalists exhibited humility regarding their profession. By mentioning A.J. Liebling, he highlights the enduring quality of great journalism that encourages introspection and acknowledges the limitations of one's knowledge and skills, promoting a sense of modesty in a field often associated with ego.
In practice
In a speech on the importance of integrity in journalism, one could quote Baker to underline the need for humility.
So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He can't even get to the office without undergoing the agonies of the damned, but give him a little metal, a few chemicals, some wire and twenty or thirty billion dollars and vroom! there he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million miles up in the sky.
The worst thing about the miracle of modern communications is the Pavlovian pressure it places upon everyone to communicate whenever a bell rings.
Voters inclined to loathe and fear elite Ivy League schools rarely make fine distinctions between Yale and Harvard. All they know is that both are full of rich, fancy, stuck-up and possibly dangerous intellectuals who never sit down to supper in their undershirt no matter how hot the weather gets.
When it comes to cars, only two varieties of people are possible - cowards and fools.
Television was the most revolutionary event of the century. Its importance was in a class with the discovery of gunpowder and the invention of the printing press, which changed the human condition for centuries afterward.
Objects can be classified scientifically into three major categories: those that don't work, those that break down and those that get lost.
You never get over losses. I've never gotten over one loss I've had in my career. They always stick with me.
Though sin often brings immediate pleasure, it gives no lasting joy.
One of the essential tasks for living a wise life is letting go. Letting go is the path to freedom. It is only by letting go of the hopes, the fears, the pain, the past, the stories that have a hold on us that we can quiet our mind and open our heart.
Wisdom is nothing but a preparation of the soul, a capacity, a secret art of thinking, feeling and breathing thoughts of unity at every moment of life.
If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.
What is indispensable to inspiration? ...sound sleep and the provocation of a good book or a companion.
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