"The single life is not one I willingly chose for myself."

"To get it first is important - but more important is to get it right."

"Walking into a room filled with people you don't know but who know you brings out your worst vulnerabilities."

"When for so long you can't get a job for reasons that seem specious, you you finally do have it, you are constantly afraid of losing it."

"When I first anchored in 1970, I had never seen a woman anchor a news show."

"When I was a little girl in the 1950s, it would not have been possible for me to say, I want to be an anchorwoman when I grow up."

"Women were seldom given quality assignments or adequate air time."

"Texas was defined by its larger-than-life characters, particularly politicians."

"The bad news is that 50 people died in a hotel fire; the good news is that we got exclusive footage."

"The better the coverage, the more discriminating the viewer."

"The code of the road is, if there is anything to eat, eat; if there is a place to sit, sit; if there is a restroom, go."

"The idea of stardom was difficult to grasp. It was like being schizophrenic; there was her, the woman on television, and the real me."

"The latest wrinkle is on wrinkles. There is a widespread belief that women can't grow old in television news."

"The minute viewers callin or write about your looks, they were not listening to what you were saying."

"The most important event I covered was the Panama Canal debate, which dragged on for months."

"The news anchor is exactly that - an anchor, a center, a focus."

"The relationship between talent and management is uneasy, at best."

"News events are like Texas weather. If you don't like it, wait a minute."

"News events cannot be controlled, nor can newscasts be mapped out like entertainment shows."

"News reporting is a cycle: No matter how much you work at sending a message, it's only successful if it's received."

"Newscasters cannot call attention to themselves by being too attractive or too unattractive."

"One reason I left local news was that I was tired of the constant musical chairs among news directors."

"Our free enterprise system of disseminating information is collectively referred to as The Media. But there is no collective."

"Shootouts are not gunfights of honor, they're gang wars and racial riots."

"Some news managers have been slow to grasp that good television news is always substance over form."

"Television is intensely personal."

"Television news is a delicate balance of serving public good and private gain."

"In the beginning, my mother humored me when I told her I wanted to be a reporter."

"It had not occurred to me that marriage requires the same effort as a career. And unlike a career, marriage requires a joint effort."

"It is my belief that one's salary is between an individual and the IRS."

"Many senators have developed a canny sense of what will play best for the audience."

"Men still control the news, both on and off camera."

"Mistakes are not always the result of someone's ineptitude."

"My current goal is to place a moratorium on goals."

"My goal was to be a network correspondent by the time I was 30."

"My most lucrative job in college was a stint as the regional Dodge Girl."

"Never refuse an assignment except when there is a conflict of interest, a potential of danger to you or your family, or you hold a strongly biased attitude about the subject under focus."

"Every time I am in danger of believing the glamour of my own press, some incident inevitably brings me back to earth."

"For every two minutes of glamour, there are eight hours of hard work."

"How valuable NBC Magazine was in my career is questionable."

"I don't exactly know what it means to be ready. A cake when the oven timer goes off? Am I fully baked, or only half-baked?"

"I hadn't realized until I covered the police beat just how seedy crime is."

"I very much wanted to be accepted by my peers, to be considered a serious journalist."

"I worked half my life to be an overnight success, and still it took me by surprise."

"In every interview I have ever read or seen or taken part in, the final question in our future-oriented society is always, What next?"

"In interviews I gave early on in my career, I was quoted as saying it was possible to have it all: a dynamic job, marriage, and children. In some respects, I was a social adolescent."

"In real life, events seem much less dramatic."

"Women may not have it easy, but we are given a fairer chance to reach for the top."

"No matter how many goals you have achieved, you must set your sights on a higher one."

"I have had a lifelong phobia of snakes."