Let's take a break. Instead of covering design issues this month, I thought you might enjoy a look at what some of the brightest and wittiest figures in America have had to say about newspapers.

You'll recognize the names - but you may be a bit surprised at some of the things they had to say about us.

- I am not the editor of a newspaper, and I shall always try to do right and be good - so that God will not make me one. - Mark Twain

- Even the editorial writers of newspapers seem unable to understand the plainest sentence. - H. L. Mencken

- Newspaper editors are men who separate the wheat from the chaff - and print the chaff. - Adlai Stevenson

- Were it left to me to decide between a government without newspapers - or newspapers without government - I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. - Thomas Jefferson

- The press is free - to the man who owns the press. - Benjamin Franklin

- Accuracy! Accuracy! Accuracy! - Josef Pulitzer

- Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper. - George Orwell

- If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. - Mark Twain

- My doctors told me this morning my blood pressure is down so low that I can start reading the newspapers. - Ronald Reagan

- The industry is littered with self-styled purists who believe the business of media … the requirement to make a profit … somehow corrupts the craft. - Lachlan Murdoch

- A newspaper is a business. It used to be a fabulous business that made extraordinary margins. It ís now a very good business with appropriate margins. - Sam Zell

- There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion. - Winston Churchill

- The spider looks for a merchant who doesn't advertise, so he can spin a web across his door and lead a life of undisturbed peace. - Mark Twain

- A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant … and the crazy crazier. - H. L. Mencken

- Itís amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper. - Jerry Seinfeld

- Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half. - Gore Vidal

- Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever ... even to the protagonists. - Norman Mailer

- News is something somebody doesn't want printed. All else is advertising. - William Randolph Hearst

- No American newspaper will print anything contrary to its own interests. - George Bernard Shaw

- If you lose your temper at a newspaper columnist, he'll get rich or famous … or both. - James C. Hagerty

- Far more thought and care go into the composition of any prominent ad in a newspaper or magazine than go into the writing of their features and editorials. - Marshall McLuhan

- America is a country of inventors, and the greatest of inventors are the newspaper men. - Alexander Graham Bell

- The volume of mail that comes into a newspaper is no index of anything - except that you happen to attract a lot of idiots. - H. L. Mencken

- Ideology, politics and journalism - which luxuriate in failure - are impotent in the face of hope and joy. - P. J. O'Rourke

- A good newspaper is never nearly good enough - but a bad newspaper is a joy forever. - Garrison Keillor FREE DESIGN EVALUATION: Ed Henninger offers design evaluations - at no charge and with no obligation - to readers of this column. For more information, check the FREEBIE page on Ed's web site: www.henningerconsulting.com ED HENNINGER is an independent newspaper consultant and the Director of Henninger Consulting. Offering comprehensive newspaper design services including redesigns, workshops, staff training and evaluations. E-mail: edh@henningerconsulting.com. On the web: www.henningerconsulting.com. Phone: 803-327-3322.