William Safire Quotes

Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.

Do not put statements in the negative form. And don't start sentences with a conjunction. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all. De-accession euphemisms. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

Never assume the obvious is true.

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.

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

When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.

If you want to "get in touch with your feelings," fine, talk to yourself. We all do. But if you want to communicate with another thinking human being, get in touch with your thoughts. Put them in order, give them a purpose, use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce. The secret way to do this is to write it down, and then cut out the confusing parts.

When duty calls, that is when character counts.

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

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

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

Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.

Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. And don't start a sentence with a conjugation.

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

Have a definite opinion.

The Latin motto over Poindexter's new Pentagon office reads Scientia Est Potentia - "knowledge is power." Exactly: the government's infinite knowledge about you is its power over you.

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

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.

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

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.

Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

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

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

Create your own constituency of the infuriated.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home, when he was British Foreign Secretary, said he received the following telegram from an irate citizen: "To hell with you. Offensive letter follows."