MacKenzie McHale quotes from The Newsroom

Mackenzie

Don't you know that anything that can be proven by courage and character you've proven to me a long time ago?

Will

"We aspired to intelligence. We didn't belittle it. It didn't make us feel inferior."

MacKenzie

"Reclaiming the Fourth Estate. Reclaiming journalism as an honorable profession. A nightly newscast that informs a debate worthy of a great nation. Civility, respect, and a return to what's important. The death of bitchiness, the death of gossip and voyeurism." ..... Speaking truth to stupid.

MacKenzie

"And where does it say that a good news show can't be popular?

Will

"Yes, people choose the news they want now, but-- People choose the facts they want now"

MacKenzie

"That America ... has said over and over and over that we can do better. It's part of our DNA. .... People will want the news if you give it to them with integrity. Not everybody, not even a lot of people --- 5%. And 5% more of anything is what makes the difference in this country. So we can do better.

Mackenzie

What's the difference between a corporation and a person?

Sloan

Have you ever held a door open for someone?

Mackenzie

Yes.

Sloan

Did you ask them for money first?

Mackenzie

No.

Sloan

That's the difference.

Mackenzie

[Realizing she just sent a mass e-mail to the staff, with details of her infidelity during a relationship with Will] No... No, no... No, no, no, no, no, no I need everyone's attention, right now [Gary Cooper receives the e-mail on his Blackberry, which Mackenzie snatches from his hand, throws to the floor, crushes beneath her heel, and upon which she pours another employee's tea.]

Gary

[staring at the ruins of his phone] That was unusual.

Mackenzie

[frantically] I need everyone to delete the staff e-mail, right now, without reading it. Then I need someone to sneak into Will's office and delete the e-mail from his inbox. If it's password protected, I need someone to, um mm, TAKE A BASEBALL BAT AND SMASH-- [Will enters with a stunned expression on his face] I thought you said he was at a thing uptown.

I guess he came back.

Will

We stood in my office this morning...

Mackenzie

Will...

Will

...and I said under no circumstances did I want anyone to know what happened, and you said yes, and yes again. I mean it really, it really seemed like you understood. Then, you sent an e-mail, explaining in some detail, what happened and then you copied 47 reporters on it.

Mackenzie

Will...

Will

You know how sometimes something happens in an instant that's so astonishing you just... shut down?

Mackenzie

Of course, that's understand–

Will

THAT DOESN'T! FUCKING! HAPPEN! TO ME!

Mackenzie

We need privacy.

Will

[Sarcastically] REALLY?!

Mackenzie

We're going to go into Will's office, I want everyone to delete the e-mail-

Mack, I think I just accidentally forwarded it to corporate.

Will

[Will angrily charges at Martin and is blocked by Mackenzie and Maggie] WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!

Mackenzie

[Frantically] I was trying to send an e-mail to you, but instead I sent it to Sloan and then 'Sloan' became 'Staff' and I either did or didn't type the asterisk.

Will

Why were you sending it at all?

Mackenzie

Because-... and here's where I'm on firmer ground. Sloan thought that you cheated on me and that you were an ass! [To the staff] Which is not true! I'm changing minds, Will!

Will

[Points angrily to his office] GET IN THERE!

Mackenzie

Sure.

Mackenzie

[After meeting Will's second date for the first time] Spinning instructor?

Will

Chief of neurology at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. That would make her a brain surgeon...literally, a brain surgeon.

Mackenzie

[Pauses] That's not hard to beat.

Will

How often are you sleeping when I'm talking to you at night?

Mackenzie

I really have no way of knowing that.