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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

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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
Accused
Live
Mind
Ventriloquist
Channeling
Dummy
Dismissed

More quotes by William Safire

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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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Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes.
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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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When duty calls, that is when character counts.
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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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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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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.
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It is in the nature of tyranny to deride the will of the people as the voice of the mob, and to denounce the cry for freedom as the roar of anarchy.
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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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At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
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The CEO era gave rise to the CFO (not certified flying object, as you might imagine, but chief financial officer) and, most recently, the CIO, chief investment officer, a nice boost for the bookkeeper you can't afford to give a raise . . .
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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The most successful column is one that causes the reader to throw down the paper in a peak of fit.
William Safire
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Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.
William Safire
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Color and bite permeate a language designed to rally many men, to destroy some, and to change the minds of others.
William Safire
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Better to be a jerk that knees than a knee that jerks.
William Safire
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Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
William Safire