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

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
Conservatives
Libertarian
Willing
Things

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Never assume the obvious is true.
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President Reagan is a rhetorical roundheels, as befits a politician seeking empathy with his audience.
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You don't want lopsided government. You don't want one side running roughshod over the other.
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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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A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject.
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Adjective salad is delicious, with each element contributing its individual and unique flavor but a puree of adjective soup tastes yecchy.
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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.
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Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.
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When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.
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Dangling punch lines to forgotten stories remain in the language like the smile of the Cheshire cat.
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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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Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.
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The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.
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Color and bite permeate a language designed to rally many men, to destroy some, and to change the minds of others.
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What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation.
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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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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.
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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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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.
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I could get a better education interviewing John Steinbeck than talking to an English professor about novels.
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