Quote

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.

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
Form
Carefully
Remember
Sentence
Used
Statements
Never
Sentences
Negative
Infinitive
Start
Split
Voice
Splits
Words
Passive

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Do not be taken in by 'insiderisms.' Fledgling columnists, eager to impress readers with their grasp of journalistic jargon, are drawn to such arcane spellings as 'lede.' Where they lede, do not follow.
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It behooves us to avoid archaisms. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
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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.
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In dealing with Syria's dictator...only force counts. No cease-fire was attainable in Lebanon until the 16-inch guns of the battleship New Jersey started shelling Syria's proxies suddenly, sweet reason prevailed in Damascus.
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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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Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.
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The first ladyship is the only federal office in which the holder can neither be fired nor impeached.
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As long as one American is hungry... then we have unfinished business in this country.
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Adapt your style, if you wish, to admit the color of slang or freshness of neologism, but hang tough on clarity, precision, structure, grace.
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Never assume the obvious is true.
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Avoid overuse of 'quotation “marks.”'
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If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself.
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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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Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?
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Carter is the best President the Soviet Union ever had.
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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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Never look for the story in the 'lede.' Reporters are required to put what's happened up top, but the practiced pundit places a nugget of news, even a startling insight, halfway down the column, directed at the politiscenti. When pressed for time, the savvy reader starts there.
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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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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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On the analogy of 'Dictionary Johnson,' we call Fred R. Shapiro, editor of the just-published Yale Book of Quotations (well worth the $50 price), 'Quotationeer Shapiro.' Shapiro does original research, earning his 1,067-page volume a place on the quotation shelf next to Bartlett's and Oxford's.
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