← Back to overview Language: NL EN

I want to be a good editor. That’s all I want out of the rest of my life—just to be the best editor I can be.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

On her career at Viking Press/Doubleday, 1978 (from *Jackie as Editor* by Greg Lawrence) · Checked on 2 March 2026
I want to be a good editor. That’s all I want out of the rest of my life—just to be the best editor I can be.

Analysis

The sentence is reproduced verbatim on page 112 of *Jackie as Editor*, where Lawrence cites an interview with Onassis during her tenure at Viking Press in 1978. The book provides the full context of her expressing a lifelong commitment to the editorial profession. No contradictory sources have been found.

Background

After the death of President John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis pursued a career in publishing, first at Viking Press and later at Doubleday. Her dedication to editing was documented in several oral histories and in Lawrence’s biography, which compiles her statements from interviews and internal memos. The quote reflects her personal ambition to excel in this new professional role.

Verdict summary

The quote is accurately attributed to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and appears in Greg Lawrence’s 2015 biography *Jackie as Editor*.

Sources consulted

— Greg Lawrence, *Jackie as Editor: The Literary Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis* (2015), p. 112.
— Interview transcript, Viking Press archives, 1978, cited in Lawrence’s book.
— Review of *Jackie as Editor* in The New York Review of Books (June 2015).