William Safire quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by William Safire

William Safire Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from William Safire on Wise Famous Quotes.

Never feel guilty about reading, it's what you do to do your job.

A reader ought to be able to hold it and become familiar with its organized contents and make it a mind's manageable companion.

Some handsome and ambitious men believe they are above all morality, and a woman's virtue becomes a mere challenge to them.

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.

Of higher value than any one leader is the cause.

Writers who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media.

When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.

Adjective salad is delicious, with each element contributing its individual and unique flavor; but a puree of adjective soup tastes yecchy.

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.

I could get a better education interviewing John Steinbeck than talking to an English professor about novels.

President Reagan is a rhetorical roundheels, as befits a politician seeking empathy with his audience.

Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.

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.

Never assume the obvious is true.

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.

If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself.

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.

When I need to know the meaning of a word, I look it up in a dictionary.

Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.

I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years.

A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject.

Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.

When duty calls, that is when character counts.

Decide on some imperfect Somebody and you will win, because the truest truism in politics is: You can't beat Somebody with Nobody.

Adapt your style, if you wish, to admit the color of slang or freshness of neologism, but hang tough on clarity, precision, structure, grace.

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.

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.

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.

I welcome new words, or old words used in new ways, provided the result is more precision, added color or greater expressiveness.

Don't expect others to do your work for you.

The most successful column is one that causes the reader to throw down the paper in a peak of fit.

I'm willing to zap conservatives when they do things that are not libertarian.

To communicate, put your words in order; give them a purpose; use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce.

Dangling punch lines to forgotten stories remain in the language like the smile of the Cheshire cat.

What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation.

It behooves us to avoid archaisms. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?

By elevating your reading, you will improve your writing or at least tickle your thinking.

The first ladyship is the only federal office in which the holder can neither be fired nor impeached.

Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.

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.

Carter is the best President the Soviet Union ever had.

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.

Cast aside any column about two subjects. It means the pundit chickened out on the hard decision about what to write about that day.

No one flower can ever symbolize this nation. America is a bouquet ...

As long as one American is hungry ... then we have unfinished business in this country.

Better to be a jerk that knees than a knee that jerks.

Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes.

Our rogue President, after selling face time ...

English is a stretch language; one size fits all.

The new, old, and constantly changing language of politics is a lexicon of conflict and drama?ridicule and reproach?pleading and persuasion.

Have a definite opinion.

Avoid overuse of 'quotation "marks."'

A dependent clause is like a dependent child: incapable of standing on its own but able to cause a lot of trouble.

Create your own constituency of the infuriated.

Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight.

I think we all have a need to know what we do not need to know.

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.

The most fun in breaking a rule is in knowing what rule you're breaking.

The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.

Gridlock is great. My motto is, 'Don't just do something. Stand there.'

At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.

Color and bite permeate a language designed to rally many men, to destroy some, and to change the minds of others.