Quote

Decide on some imperfect Somebody and you will win, because the truest truism in politics is: You can't beat Somebody with Nobody.

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
Nobody
Somebody
Winning
Truism
Politics
Truest
Political
Imperfect
Beat
Decide
Beats

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English is a stretch language one size fits all.
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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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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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The remarkable legion of the unremarked, whose individual opinions are not colorful or different enough to make news, but whose collective opinion, when crystallized, can make history.
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... it's Bush's baby, even if he shares its popularization with Gorbachev. Forget the Hitler 'new order' root F.D.R. used the phrase earlier.
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The most fun in breaking a rule is in knowing what rule you're breaking.
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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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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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Cast aside any column about two subjects. It means the pundit chickened out on the hard decision about what to write about that day.
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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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Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight.
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When duty calls, that is when character counts.
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Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
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In lieu of those checks and balances central to our legal system, non-citizens face an executive that is now investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury and jailer or executioner. In an Orwellian twist, Bush's order calls this Soviet-style abomination 'a full and fair trial.'
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Gridlock is great. My motto is, 'Don't just do something. Stand there.'
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The perfect Christmas gift for a sportscaster, as all fans of sports clichés know, is a scoreless tie.
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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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When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.
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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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Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.
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