70+ Helen Thomas Quotes On Education, Freedom And Socialism

Helen Thomas was an American journalist who covered the White House for over five decades. She was the first female member of the White House Press Corps and was known for her tough and direct questioning of U.S. presidents. She was also the first female officer of the National Press Club and the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents' Association. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Helen Thomas on education, leadership, freedom.

Top 10 Helen Thomas Quotes

1. All presidents rail against the press. It goes with the turf.
2. I don't think a tough question is disrespectful.
3. People will never know how hard it is to get information, especially if it's locked up behind official doors where, if politicians had their way, they'd stamp 'top secret' on the color of the walls.
4. Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by the Zionists.
5. Try to reject war and give peace a chance. Question the powers that be and find out why they make the dubious decisions they do that send young people to war.
6. I'm decrepit but I don't want to give up, and I love my work.
7. I'll tell you how I handle stress. I say-This too shall pass. You've got to try to stay cool and admit when you're wrong, and tell them when you're right.
8. I hit the third rail. You cannot criticize Israel in this country and survive.
9. If we care about the children, the grandchildren, the future generations, we need to make sure that they do not become the cannon fodder of the future.
10. You don't spread democracy through the barrel of a gun.

Helen Thomas Short Quotes

• Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies.
• Get the hell out of Palestine.
• We've got to break through the wall of secrecy. It's America's fate.
• Life is too short to drink the house wine.
• I don't think there are any rude questions.
• If you want to be President, decide it at the age of five, and then live accordingly.
• When you're in the news business, you always expect the unexpected.
• American journalism's crazy old aunt in the attic.
• I've always felt privileged to cover the White House and to have that ringside seat to history
• You didn't tell a lie, you just left a big hole in the truth.

Helen Thomas Quotes About President

Every president thinks that all information that comes to the White House is their private preserve after they all promise an open administration on the campaign trail, but some are more secretive than others. Some want to lock down everything. — Helen Thomas

I got into the Kennedy White House because at the time I was president of the Women's National Press Club, and they assigned me to cover the early days of the Kennedy campaign. Jackie especially. Everyone was interested in the family. — Helen Thomas

I respect the office of the presidency, but I never worship at the shrines of our public servants...The Washington press corps has the privilege of asking the president of the United States what he is doing and why. — Helen Thomas

Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly has been disturbed over what he sees as the erosion of presidential powers since the Watergate scandal and has urged Bush to take a stronger stand against what Cheney sees as congressional intrusions into the executive branch. — Helen Thomas

I covered two presidents, LBJ and Nixon, who could no longer convince, persuade, or govern, once people had decided they had no credibility, but we seem to be more tolerant now of what I think we should not tolerate. — Helen Thomas

In Plains, I saw Jimmy Carter as he really is - a nice, decent man... in terms of compassionate contribution to society, he certainly has proven to be our best past president. — Helen Thomas

Presidential power was overruled by the high bench in July 1974, when President Nixon was ordered to turn over some audio tapes of his White House conversations, including the 'smoking gun' tape of June 23, 1972, that revealing the Watergate cover up. — Helen Thomas

I can remember the morning after President Nixon won re-election in 1972. His chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, called a Cabinet meeting and told the members: 'You are all a bunch of burned-out volcanoes;' and asked for their resignations. — Helen Thomas

The United States has tried for years to live down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's order during World War II to move Japanese-Americans on the West Coast to inland detention camps on grounds that they might be disloyal. — Helen Thomas

I covered Kennedy when she was three years old and the darling daughter of President Kennedy who doted on her and whose mother did everything to protect her from the prying press. — Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas Quotes About Bush

This is the worst President ever. He George W. Bush is the worst President in all of American history. — Helen Thomas

I wrote that President Bush is passing on to President-elect Obama two wars and an economic debacle. I call it a depression. And he is arming Israel against the Palestinians in every way in Gaza. — Helen Thomas

President Bush has asserted the right to wiretap and eavesdrop on any American without a warrant in the name of fighting terrorism. He has asserted presidential power beyond stated constitutional rights, and there is no Republican gutsy enough to call his hand. — Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas Famous Quotes And Sayings

Don't let the politicians chip away at the New Deal and the Great Society programs like Social Security and Medicare, that puts a floor beyond which the elderly, the sick, the powerless do not starve or lack for medicine or shelter. — Helen Thomas

We are owned by propagandists against the Arabs. There's no question about that. Congress, the White House, and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists. No question in my opinion. They put their money where their mouth is...We're being pushed into a wrong direction in every way. — Helen Thomas

I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon. — Helen Thomas

There are better ways we can transform this virulent hatred - by living our ideals, the Peace Corps, exchange students, teachers, exporting our music, poetry, blue jeans. — Helen Thomas

I was in Independence, Missouri when Johnson signed the Medicare bill, with Truman standing there. Truman had first proposed Medicare, but couldn't get it through. — Helen Thomas

If we lose our title of "land of the free," what have we got? — Helen Thomas

I'm of Arab background. — Helen Thomas

I have a background and an understanding of what's happened in the Middle East that a lot of people don't have, because there's been no interest. — Helen Thomas

You're only as good as your last story. — Helen Thomas

As a reporter having covered him for eight years in the White House, I am sure the media could have done a better job if we had known the real Ronald Reagan. — Helen Thomas

I love my work, and I think that I was so lucky to pick a profession where it's a joy to go to work every day. — Helen Thomas

I had a lot of fun bantering back and forth with Kennedy. But for ease and comfort, it would be Gerald Ford. He was a down-home type. I came from the Midwest and he came from the Midwest. He was nonaggressive and kindly. — Helen Thomas

I'm a liberal, I was born a liberal, I'll be one 'til I die, what else should a reporter be when you see so much and when we have such great privilege and access to the truth? — Helen Thomas

Truman fired the popular Gen. Douglas MacArthur because he disobeyed orders in the Korean War. Johnson knew that he had reached the endgame in Vietnam when Gen. William Westmoreland, the top commander in Vietnam, requested 240,000 more troops in 1968 for the prolonged war that also could not be won. — Helen Thomas

The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself. All we need is another liar... I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does. — Helen Thomas

We got the vote, which we should've been born with, in 1920. Everything we've had to struggle for - it's ridiculous. — Helen Thomas

It's time for women to make their voices heard. Their silence on the subject of war and peace is deafening. — Helen Thomas

Q: What do Jesus and Nicole Brown Simpson have in common? A: They were both killed by the Joooooooose. — Helen Thomas

Anybody who runs for public office today has got to know his life or her life will be an open book. I've decided that if you want to run for public office you have to decide at the age of 5 and live accordingly. — Helen Thomas

I censored myself for 50 years when I was a reporter. Now I wake up and ask myself, 'Who do I hate today?' — Helen Thomas

We in the press have a special role since there is no other institution in our society that can hold the President accountable. I do believe that our democracy can endure and prevail only if the American people are informed. — Helen Thomas

Maybe the Jefferson case will give members of Congress second thoughts the next time they get ready to legislate away the rights of ordinary Americans. — Helen Thomas

You cannot have a democracy without an informed people. — Helen Thomas

Everyone with a cell phone thinks they're a photographer. Everyone with a laptop thinks they're a journalist. But they have no training, and they have no idea of what we keep to in terms of standards, as in what's far out and what's reality. And they have no dedication to truth. — Helen Thomas

I think I'll work all my life. When you're having fun, why stop having fun? — Helen Thomas

We don't go into journalism to be popular. It is our job to seek the truth and put constant pressure on our leaders until we get answers. — Helen Thomas

I think Obama is handling his image very well, but I think he lacks boldness. — Helen Thomas

Every President hates the Press. — Helen Thomas

I never thought about heaven per se. I think when you're dead, you're dead. If anything happens after that, you just hope you don't go to hell. — Helen Thomas

The presidential news conference is indispensable because it is the only forum in our society where you can be questioned on a regular basis and held accountable. — Helen Thomas

I'm a liberal, I was born a liberal, and I will be a liberal 'til the day I die. — Helen Thomas

But when will our leaders learn - war is not the answer. — Helen Thomas

We are the only institution in our society that can question a president on a regular basis and make him accountable. Otherwise, he could be king. — Helen Thomas

We began to see the renovation of our offices as a subtle part of the Nixon war against the press. — Helen Thomas

The White House used to belong to the American people. At least that's what I learned from history books and from covering every president starting with John F. Kennedy. — Helen Thomas

I'm not anti-Jewish; I'm anti-Zionist. — Helen Thomas

I think that presidents deserve to be questioned. Maybe irreverently, most of the time. Bring 'em down a size. You see a president, ask a question. You have one chance in the barrel. Don't blow it. — Helen Thomas

Life Lessons by Helen Thomas

1. Helen Thomas was a pioneering journalist who demonstrated the importance of standing up for the truth and holding those in power accountable.
2. She was a fierce advocate for the freedom of the press and believed in the power of journalists to shape public opinion and hold leaders accountable.
3. Through her work, she taught us that journalists have a responsibility to ask tough questions, seek the truth, and hold power to account.