William Safire Quotes
Collection of top 63 famous quotes about William Safire
William Safire Quotes & Sayings
Happy to read and share the best inspirational William Safire quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes.
Never feel guilty about reading, it's what you do to do your job.
— William Safire
A reader ought to be able to hold it and become familiar with its organized contents and make it a mind's manageable companion.
— William Safire
Some handsome and ambitious men believe they are above all morality, and a woman's virtue becomes a mere challenge to them.
— William Safire
It is in the nature of tyranny to deride the will of the people as the voice of the mob, and to denounce the cry for freedom as the roar of anarchy.
— William Safire
Of higher value than any one leader is the cause.
— William Safire
Writers who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media.
— William Safire
When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.
— William Safire
Adjective salad is delicious, with each element contributing its individual and unique flavor; but a puree of adjective soup tastes yecchy.
— William Safire
I want my questions answered by an alert and experienced politician, prepared to be grilled and quoted
not my hand held by an old smoothie. — William Safire
not my hand held by an old smoothie. — William Safire
I could get a better education interviewing John Steinbeck than talking to an English professor about novels.
— William Safire
President Reagan is a rhetorical roundheels, as befits a politician seeking empathy with his audience.
— William Safire
Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.
— William Safire
It's Bush's baby, even if he shares its popularization with Gorbachev. Forget the Hitler 'new order' root; F.D.R. used the phrase earlier.
— William Safire
Never assume the obvious is true.
— William Safire
A man who lies, thinking it is the truth, is an honest man, and a man who tells the truth, believing it to be a lie, is a liar.
— William Safire
Took me a while to get to the point today, but that is because I did not know what the point was when I started.
— William Safire
Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.
— William Safire
I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years.
— William Safire
A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject.
— William Safire
Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.
— William Safire
When duty calls, that is when character counts.
— William Safire
Decide on some imperfect Somebody and you will win, because the truest truism in politics is: You can't beat Somebody with Nobody.
— William Safire
Adapt your style, if you wish, to admit the color of slang or freshness of neologism, but hang tough on clarity, precision, structure, grace.
— William Safire
The wonderful thing about being a New York Times columnist is that it's like a Supreme Court appointment - they're stuck with you for a long time.
— William Safire
A reader should be able to identify a column without its byline or funny little picture on top purely by look or feel, or its turgidity ratio.
— William Safire
This is what it's all about. From what I could see, you could get a bunch of people together, whip up the press and have some impact.
— William Safire
I welcome new words, or old words used in new ways, provided the result is more precision, added color or greater expressiveness.
— William Safire
Don't expect others to do your work for you.
— William Safire
The most successful column is one that causes the reader to throw down the paper in a peak of fit.
— William Safire
To communicate, put your words in order; give them a purpose; use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce.
— William Safire
Dangling punch lines to forgotten stories remain in the language like the smile of the Cheshire cat.
— William Safire
What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation.
— William Safire
It behooves us to avoid archaisms. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
— William Safire
Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?
— William Safire
By elevating your reading, you will improve your writing or at least tickle your thinking.
— William Safire
The first ladyship is the only federal office in which the holder can neither be fired nor impeached.
— William Safire
Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.
— William Safire
If you re-read your work, you can find on re-reading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by re-reading and editing.
— William Safire
Carter is the best President the Soviet Union ever had.
— William Safire
To be accused of 'channeling' is to be dismissed as a ventriloquist's live dummy, derogated at not having a mind of one's own.
— William Safire
Cast aside any column about two subjects. It means the pundit chickened out on the hard decision about what to write about that day.
— William Safire
As long as one American is hungry ... then we have unfinished business in this country.
— William Safire
Better to be a jerk that knees than a knee that jerks.
— William Safire
Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes.
— William Safire
Our rogue President, after selling face time ...
— William Safire
English is a stretch language; one size fits all.
— William Safire
The new, old, and constantly changing language of politics is a lexicon of conflict and drama?ridicule and reproach?pleading and persuasion.
— William Safire
Have a definite opinion.
— William Safire
Avoid overuse of 'quotation "marks."'
— William Safire
A dependent clause is like a dependent child: incapable of standing on its own but able to cause a lot of trouble.
— William Safire
Create your own constituency of the infuriated.
— William Safire
Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight.
— William Safire
I think we all have a need to know what we do not need to know.
— William Safire
One challenge to the arts in America is the need to make the arts, especially the classic masterpieces, accessible and relevant to today's audience.
— William Safire
The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.
— William Safire