"I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it"
About this Quote
The quote’s power comes from its looping, almost breathless repetition. "You have to" stacks into a kind of ethical drumbeat, as if he’s arguing against a gravitational pull toward performance. And the most revealing clause is the least glamorous: "admit what you don’t know". That’s a rebuke to the pundit economy, where confidence often outruns evidence and ignorance gets laundered into hot takes. Cooper frames uncertainty not as weakness but as a boundary marker - the line that keeps inquiry from becoming propaganda.
There’s also a subtle permission structure embedded here. He’s not saying stay silent until omniscient; he’s saying you can talk about what you don’t know if you label it honestly. That’s a newsroom standard (verification, attribution, caveats) translated into personal ethics. In a media ecosystem built to punish nuance and reward certainty, Cooper’s point is quietly radical: truth-telling begins with epistemic humility, and the audience can feel the difference.
Quote Details
| Topic | Honesty & Integrity |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Cooper, Anderson. (2026, January 18). I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-you-have-to-be-yourself-and-you-have-to-15216/
Chicago Style
Cooper, Anderson. "I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-you-have-to-be-yourself-and-you-have-to-15216/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-think-you-have-to-be-yourself-and-you-have-to-15216/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.













