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

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
Longer
Media
Erudition
Show
Choir
Shows
Bare
Used
Ruined
Sing
Writers

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If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself.
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Gridlock is great. My motto is, 'Don't just do something. Stand there.'
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I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years.
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A reader ought to be able to hold it and become familiar with its organized contents and make it a mind's manageable companion.
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I'm willing to zap conservatives when they do things that are not libertarian.
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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.
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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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To 'know your place' is a good idea in politics. That is not to say 'stay in your place' or 'hang on to your place', because ambition or boredom may dictate upward or downward mobility, but a sense of place - a feel for one's own position in the control room-is useful in gauging what you should try to do.
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The wonderful thing about being a New York Times columnist is that it's like a Supreme Court appointment - they're stuck with you for a long time.
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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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Don't expect others to do your work for you.
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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.
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As long as one American is hungry... then we have unfinished business in this country.
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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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Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes.
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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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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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When I need to know the meaning of a word, I look it up in a dictionary.
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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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No one flower can ever symbolize this nation. America is a bouquet.
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