Doris Kearns Goodwin Quotes

I believe in research you cannot do enough research; believability comes out of what's real.

Well, one thing I'm really interested in, when I'm writing, is being accurate.

Most of the people I write about I'm still in touch with, so I would be loath to make up stuff about them.

Nonfiction means that our stories are as true and accurate as possible. Readers expect - demand - diligence.

I am no historian but have tried to stick tight to the facts.

Don't write about that which you don't know.

As a journalist, the details always tell the story.

I'm reverent toward my sources. History is a team sport, and references are how you support your teammates.

I would say readers can trust my work more than anyone else's.

It's not cool to have your name in print when it's not the truth.

Fact-checking doesn't exist primarily because some of us are liars and cheats. It exists because writers will be writers, much as they may mean to be historians.

Writers don't have to keep themselves honest. They have to keep themselves accurate.

The core of my writing is not art but truth.

I do crazy amounts of research. I want this stuff to 'work,' so to speak. I need to be, at least to me, believable - because if I feel - if I cannot invest some element of verisimilitude, the reader is absolutely not going to buy in.

Certainly today we are incredibly tolerant of untruth.

Truth: An ingenious compound of desirability and appearance …

… he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse him.

I think you get into trouble as an author and a journalist when, rather than owning the gaps, you try to elide them.

It gets embarrassing to say something untrue because you put it online and everyone knows about it, so it's better to tell the truth.

I don't give false claims any due.

Fundamental accuracy of statement is the ONE sole morality of writing.

I don't like things that aren't true.

Just look carefully, I only want you to look carefully. Do not repeat the lies of liars. Do not become like them. Once again, I blame al-Jazeera before it ascertains what takes place. Please, make sure of what you say and do not play such a role.

You could look it up.

I feel with this film that as long as we tell Philomena's story and as long as we're true to her, which Jeff and Steve have already done by writing the story... we must not sell her short;. She's a most remarkable woman and all my concern was that we must be absolutely true to her story.