Share
×
Inspirational Quotes
Authors
Professions
Topics
Tags
Quote
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
William Safire
Share
Change background
T
T
T
Change font
Original
TAGS & TOPICS
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
Like
Superlatives
Cliches
Cliche
Plague
Avoid
Least
Lasts
Last
More quotes by 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
Of higher value than any one leader is the cause.
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
At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
William Safire
Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes.
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
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
Gridlock is great. My motto is, 'Don't just do something. Stand there.'
William Safire
When your government, employer, landlord, merchant, banker and local sports team gang up to picture, digitize and permanently record your every activity, you are placed under unprecedented control.
William Safire
Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.
William Safire
When I need to know the meaning of a word, I look it up in a dictionary.
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
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
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
Adjective salad is delicious, with each element contributing its individual and unique flavor but a puree of adjective soup tastes yecchy.
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
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
A dependent clause is like a dependent child: incapable of standing on its own but able to cause a lot of trouble.
William Safire
The first ladyship is the only federal office in which the holder can neither be fired nor impeached.
William Safire
You don't want lopsided government. You don't want one side running roughshod over the other.
William Safire