No one is innocent after the experience of governing. But not everyone is guilty.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
When a person goes to a country and finds their newspapers filled with nothing but good news, he can bet there are good men in jail.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that the absence of bad news often indicates the suppression of reality, where good people may be unjustly punished.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan's quote critiques the idea of a society that presents only good news, implying that a lack of reporting on negative events often means that there are deeper societal issues, such as the imprisonment of those who stand against injustice. It reflects on the potential dangers of a censored or manipulated media where the truth is obscured, leading to a false sense of well-being.
Themes
Good NewsBad NewsSocietyTruthInjustice
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on media ethics, one might quote this to illustrate the importance of truthful reporting.
More from Daniel Patrick Moynihan
All quotes βIf the newspapers of a country are filled with good news, the jails of that country will be filled with good people.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
The richest inheritance any child can have is a stable, loving, disciplined family life.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
We must not let ourselves be seen as rushing around the world looking for arguments... Nor should we let ourselves be seen as ignoring allies, disillusioning friends, thinking only of ourselves in the most narrow terms. That is not how we survived the 20th century. Nor will it serve in the 21st.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
Similar quotes
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark, in thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?
William ShakespeareRead
Death, I need my little addiction to you. I need that tiny voice who, even as I rise from the sea, all woman, all there, says kill me, kill me.
Anne SextonRead
We can only give away to others what we have inside ourselves.
Wayne DyerRead
Truth is not something you can appropriate easily and quickly. You certainly cannot sleep or dream yourself to the truth. No, you must be tried, do battle, and suffer if you are to acquire the truth for yourself. It is a sheer illusion to think that in relation to the truth there is an abridgement, a short cut that dispenses with the necessity for struggling for it.
Soren KierkegaardRead
What we make testifies who we are. People can sense care and can sense carelessness. This relates to respect for each other and carelessness is personally offensive.
Jonathan IveRead