Quote

Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.

William Safire

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

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
Fighting
Syllables
Political
Previously
Light
Reconciliation
Become
Sweetness
Years
Six
Year
Word
Known

More quotes by William Safire

Image
The tension between the governed and the governing is what makes the world go 'round. It's not love, it's that tension, because that tension exists in love affairs. The whole idea of control is at the heart of human relationships. Control and resistance to control.
William Safire
Image
If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself.
William Safire
Image
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.
William Safire
Image
By elevating your reading, you will improve your writing or at least tickle your thinking.
William Safire
Image
[Senators John Kerry & John Edwards] have risen high in Democratic polls with a brand of class resentment and soak-the-rich rhetoric rooted in the old-fashioned liberalism of Ted Kennedy.
William Safire
Image
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.
William Safire
Image
I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years.
William Safire
Image
At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
William Safire
Image
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
Image
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
Image
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.
William Safire
Image
Color and bite permeate a language designed to rally many men, to destroy some, and to change the minds of others.
William Safire
Image
Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.
William Safire
Image
The new, old, and constantly changing language of politics is a lexicon of conflict and drama?ridicule and reproach?pleading and persuasion.
William Safire
Image
Never feel guilty about reading, it's what you do to do your job.
William Safire
Image
I'm willing to zap conservatives when they do things that are not libertarian.
William Safire
Image
When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.
William Safire
Image
Don't expect others to do your work for you.
William Safire
Image
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
Image
I want my questions answered by an alert and experienced politician, prepared to be grilled and quoted -- not my hand held by an old smoothie.
William Safire