Herb Caen Quotes

Herb Caen — American Journalist born on April 03, 1916, died on February 01, 1997

Herbert Eugene "Herb" Caen was a San Francisco journalist whose daily column of local goings-on and insider gossip, social and political happenings, painful puns and offbeat anecdotes—"a continuous love letter to San Francisco"—appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle for almost sixty years and made him a household name throughout the San Francisco Bay Area... (wikipedia)

A good column is one that sells paper. It doesn't matter how beautifully it is written and how much you admire the author... if it doesn't sell any papers, it's not a good column. It's a terrible yardstick to use, but in the newspaper business, that's the whole thing.

A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew.

A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams.

Satire of satire tends to be self-canceling, and deliberate shock tactics soon lose their ability to shock, especially when they're too deliberate.

I have a memory like an elephant. I remember every elephant I've ever met.