Quote of the Day (Brian Williams, on the Effect of His Irish-Catholic Mom)

“I had a very forward-looking, boisterous, Bea Arthur-like, loud, Irish Catholic mother, who was the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. And based on nothing, she used to watch local news in New York and say to me: ‘I think you could do this. I think you could be better than these people.’ And I would say: ‘Mom, I’d love to have this conversation, but I have to mow the neighbor’s lawn.’”—Brian Williams, on whether he always wanted to be a newsman, quoted in Philip Galanes, “Fast Thoughts, Slow Jams: Brian Williams and Seth Meyers Share Notes Over Lunch,” The New York Times, August 24, 2014

(Photo of Brian Williams by David Shankbone, taken at the Vanity Fair celebration for the 9th annual Tribeca Film Festival, 2009.)