A Quote by Neil Postman

If politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether. — © Neil Postman
If politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether.
There is no business like show business, Irving Berlin once proclaimed, and thirty years ago he may have been right, but not anymore. Nowadays almost every business is like show business, including politics, which has become more like show business than show business is.
I would urge that the yeast of education is the idea of excellence, and the idea of excellence comprises as many forms as there are individuals, each of whom develops his own image of excellence. The school must have as one of its principal functions the nurturing of images of excellence.
The business virtue par excellence is honesty without it markets can't long survive.
I personally, only work with people in my business who show excellence. I have a business, the business of enlightenment.
Producer Michael Davies - who did 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' - offered me a TV show, but I turned it down. I wasn't negotiating: It just didn't sound like a good idea. Then he offered me another show, and I said, 'No thanks' again. When I heard about 'Win Ben Stein's Money,' I thought, 'OK, that sounds like a good idea.'
In a person's career, well, if you're process-oriented and not totally outcome-oriented, then you're more likely to be success. I often say 'pursue excellence, ignore success.' Success is a by-product of excellence.
Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close.
I think no matter what you are going to pursue, if you pursue it like it's the most important thing, then everything else will be lost. And at the end of the day, when it's time to evaluate the path that you chose for your life, there has to be something more.
If you get a show named after you, and then play another character, that's fine. But if you do a show that's an ensemble show like... MASH, then you're in trouble.
Right now the producers of 'Modern Family' have no idea how many people watch our show each week on all platforms, and nobody seems to want to tell us. If a disproportionate number of any show's viewers watch in alternative ways, then, under the current system, that show may not appear to be as strong as it actually is.
Basically I'm in the idea business -- whether it's a musical idea or a spoken idea ... If you wind up with a political system that wants to put idea men out of business, then you have worry on your hands.
On my show 'One on One', I interview leaders from around the world - in politics, business, art. My other show, 'Her Village', is more like 'The View'.
The average educated man in America has about as much knowledge of what a political idea is as he has of the principles of counterpoint. Each is a thing used in politics or music which those fellows who practice politics or music manipulate somehow. Show him one and he will deny that it is politics at all. It must be corrupt or he will not recognize it. He has only seen dried figs. He has only thought dried thoughts. A live thought or a real idea is against the rules of his mind.
What a pleasure it is to be in business with BASE. I'm impressed with the honesty, integrity and efficiency with which they operate. The next show I do and represent, I will be doing with them all over again.
another tradition to politics, a tradition (of politics) that stretched from the days of the country’s founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done.
The mind is like a lake. It reflects eternity when it's very still. If ripples appear, lots of them, then the reflection is not clear. We lose the clarity of the perfect reflection.
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