Daily Inspiration Quote by Jim Lehrer

“I’m in the civil discourse business” is Jim Lehrer turning a journalist’s job description into a moral vocation. Not “I cover politics” or “I moderate debates,” but a deliberately old-fashioned trade: keeping the public square usable. The phrase “business” is doing sly work here. It’s practical, almost unromantic, implying routine, discipline, and standards - not vibes. Civility isn’t a personality trait; it’s a craft you practice, even when the incentives push the other way.

“I think it takes all kinds” signals Lehrer’s core premise: democracy is not a dinner party with curated guests. It’s a messy, plural ecosystem where persuasion depends on hearing people you didn’t choose. As a longtime anchor and debate moderator, Lehrer built a brand on restraint - the refusal to become the story, the refusal to confuse heat for insight. In a media environment that increasingly rewards performance, his self-definition reads like a quiet rebuke.

“And more power to everybody” lands as both generosity and boundary-setting. He’s not endorsing every idea; he’s endorsing everyone’s right to show up. The subtext is confidence in process over purity: if you can get people to speak, listen, and argue in shared rules, the system has a chance to self-correct. Coming from a journalist associated with PBS and a certain civic minimalism, the line is also elegiac. It’s the sound of someone defending an endangered norm without sentimentalizing it - insisting that fairness and calm aren’t weakness, they’re infrastructure.