We seem to prefer a comfortable lie to the uncomfortable truth. We punish those who point out reality, and reward those who provide us with the comfort of illusion. Reality is fearsome .. but experience tells us that more fearsome yet is evading it. Bill Moyers More Quotes by Bill Moyers More Quotes From Bill Moyers As a student I learned from wonderful teachers and ever since then I've thought everyone is a teacher. Bill Moyers students teaching teacher David Rockefeller is the most conspicuous representative today of the ruling class, a multinational fraternity of men who shape the global economy and manage the flow of its capital. Rockefeller was born to it, and he has made the most of it. But what some critics see as a vast international conspiracy, he considers a circumstance of life and just another day's work... In the world of David Rockefeller it's hard to tell where business ends and politics begins Bill Moyers nwo class men Although our interests as citizens vary, each one is an artery to the heart that pumps life through the body politic, and each is important to the health of democracy. Bill Moyers voting democracy heart They're counting on your patriotism to distract you from their plunder. They're counting on you to be standing at attention with your hand over your heart, pledging allegiance to the flag, while they pick your pocket! Bill Moyers over-you heart hands [Martin Luther] King subpoened the nation's conscience. He was killed for it. Bill Moyers luther nations kings I believe democracy requires a 'sacred contract' between journalists and those who put their trust in us to tell them what we can about how the world really works. Bill Moyers trust media believe You only have to glance at the daily news to see how passions are stirred by claims of exclusive loyalty to one's own kin, one's own clan, one's own country, and one's own church. These ties that bind are vital to our communities and our lives, but they can also be twisted into a noose. Bill Moyers passion loyalty country What's right and good doesn't come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it - as if the cause depends on you, because it does. Bill Moyers causes fighting doe Charity depends on the vicissitudes of whim and personal wealth; justice depends on commitment instead of circumstance. Faith-based charity provides crumbs from the table; faith-based justice offers a place at the table. Bill Moyers charity justice commitment Democracy works when people claim it as their own Bill Moyers democracy claims people A free press is one where it's okay to state the conclusion you're led to by the evidence. One reason I'm in hot water is because my colleagues and I at NOW didn't play by the conventional rules of Beltway journalism. Those rules divide the world into Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and allow journalists to pretend they have done their job if instead of reporting the truth behind the news, they merely give each side an opportunity to spin the news. Bill Moyers play opportunity jobs Secrecy is the freedom tyrants dream of. Bill Moyers tyrants freedom dream Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous. Bill Moyers piercings creativity creative We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country, or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia. Bill Moyers independent democracy country Ideas are great arrows, but there has to be a bow. Bill Moyers arrows motivational ideas Our very lives depend on the ethics of strangers, and most of us are always strangers to other people. Bill Moyers ethics stranger people The printed page conveys information and commitment, and requires active involvement. Television conveys emotion and experience, and it's very limited in what it can do logically. It's an existential experience - there and then gone. Bill Moyers information gone commitment I've always thought the American eagle needed a left wing and a right wing. The right wing would see to it that economic interests had their legitimate concerns addressed. The left wing would see to it that ordinary people were included in the bargain. Both would keep the great bird on course. But with two right wings or two left wings, it's no longer an eagle and it's going to crash. Bill Moyers eagles wings two It's the people who are doing the nonviolent organizing at the grassroots that make me think there's still hope. Bill Moyers grassroots people thinking Sharing is the essence of teaching. It is, I have come to believe, the essence of civilization...Without it, the imagination is but the echo of the self, trapped in a soundproof chamber, reverberating upon itself until it is spent in exhaustion or futility. Bill Moyers echoes teaching believe