May 6 - U.S. media mogul Ted Turner, whose death was reported by CNN on Wednesday, had a reputation for bluntness that led to the nickname "The Mouth of the South." The following is a selection of remarks attributed to him, presented with the contextual notes that accompanied several of the quotations.
Turner’s statements ranged from self-deprecating humor to sweeping generalizations and declarations about the role of his network. Several of the lines below were noted alongside brief annotations about when or why he made them.
- "If I only had a little humility, I’d be perfect."
- "This is America. You can do anything here."
- "The United States has got some of the dumbest people in the world."
- "We won’t be signing off until the world ends. We’ll be on and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event." - At the launch of CNN
- "War has been good to me from a financial standpoint but I don’t want to make money that way. I don’t want blood money." - During his days with CNN
- "Life is a game. Money is how we keep score."
- "Over a three-year period, I gave away half of what I had. To be honest, my hands shook as I signed it away."
- "That was probably my most unfortunate comment. I apologized for it. I apologized for a lot of things that I’ve said." - After calling Christianity a "religion for losers."
- "Men should be barred from public office for 100 years in every part of the world... It would be a much kinder, gentler, more intelligently run world. The men have had millions of years where we’ve been running things. We’ve screwed it up hopelessly. Let’s give it to the women."
- "I know what I’m having ’em put on my tombstone: ’I have nothing more to say.’"
These excerpts illustrate a public voice that intermingled bravado, philanthropy, and controversy. Several entries include Turner’s own reflections or contextual notes indicating when a remark was made or how he later characterized it.
Readers will find both personal maxim-style remarks and provocative pronouncements in the compilation, alongside instances where Turner expressed regret for specific comments. The selection is limited to the lines provided and the short annotations that accompanied some of them.
Contextual note: The quotes above are presented as they were reported, with the brief contextual tags retained where they were originally indicated. No additional claims or events beyond the material presented in this compilation have been added.