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Never assume the obvious is true.

William Safire

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William Safire
Age: 79 †
Born: 1929
Born: December 17
Died: 2009
Died: September 27
Author
Columnist
Journalist
Writer
New York City
New York
William Lewis Safire
Never
Obviousness
Assumption
Assume
Assuming
Obvious
True
Truth

More quotes by William Safire

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I welcome new words, or old words used in new ways, provided the result is more precision, added color or greater expressiveness.
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Writers who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media.
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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.
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Sometimes I know the meaning of a word but am tired of it and feel the need for an unfamiliar, especially precise or poetic term, perhaps one with a nuance that flatters my readership's exquisite sensitivity.
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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.
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President Reagan is a rhetorical roundheels, as befits a politician seeking empathy with his audience.
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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
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At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
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Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.
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Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.
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What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation.
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Decide on some imperfect Somebody and you will win, because the truest truism in politics is: You can't beat Somebody with Nobody.
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Gridlock is great. My motto is, 'Don't just do something. Stand there.'
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Give your main clause a little space. Prose is not like boxing the skilled writer deliberately telegraphs his punch, knowing that the reader wants to take the message directly on the chin.
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Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.
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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.
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Never feel guilty about reading, it's what you do to do your job.
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One difference between French appeasement and American appeasement is that France pays ransom in cash and gets its hostages back while the United States pays ransom in arms and gets additional hostages taken.
William Safire
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The new, old, and constantly changing language of politics is a lexicon of conflict and drama?ridicule and reproach?pleading and persuasion.
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A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject.
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