Marlin Fitzwater Quotations

If you wanted to tell stories, he could tell them into the night. I used to kid that every story he had ended in a near-death experience. He didn't brag, which was a big part of his charm. He was a man's man and an intellectual to boot.

I am appalled by the whole handling of this.

I think this conflict [against terrorism] is going to require a suspension of freedom and rights unlike anything we have ever seen, at least since World War II.

The press briefing today I believe has lost much of its usefulness.

The White House is a strange place.

This strategy represents our policy for all time. Until it's changed.

Everyone ought to take every opportunity to blast lawyers.

It would have been confined to the vice-president. By not telling anyone for 24 hours, it made it a White House story. It becomes a story about the White House handling of it.

It's a special enigma of President Reagan, that people who were closest to him still would have trouble telling you what it is that makes him tick.

I think this has a pervasive impact on how he conducts foreign policy on a number of levels. There's a perception the president is distracted and in trouble.