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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.
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
Started
Inches
Prevailed
Fire
Syria
Proxy
Peace
Guns
Attainable
Force
Dealing
Lebanon
War
Cease
Inch
Reason
Gun
Jersey
Shelling
Suddenly
Dictator
Battleship
Sweet
Counts
Damascus
More quotes by William Safire
Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.
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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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Never feel guilty about reading, it's what you do to do your job.
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English is a stretch language one size fits all.
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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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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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What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation.
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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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As long as one American is hungry... then we have unfinished business in this country.
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I welcome new words, or old words used in new ways, provided the result is more precision, added color or greater expressiveness.
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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.
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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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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.
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Different regions may require different strategies, as President Bush has noted, but not different basic principles. It's either collective security or selective security.
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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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Never assume the obvious is true.
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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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At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
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Don't expect others to do your work for you.
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Better to be a jerk that knees than a knee that jerks.
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