Share
×
Inspirational Quotes
Authors
Professions
Topics
Tags
Quote
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
Share
Change background
T
T
T
Change font
Original
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
Able
Column
Look
Columns
Little
Purely
Without
Identify
Looks
Picture
Feel
Reader
Feels
Funny
Ratio
Littles
Ratios
More quotes by William Safire
Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.
William Safire
I welcome new words, or old words used in new ways, provided the result is more precision, added color or greater expressiveness.
William Safire
No one flower can ever symbolize this nation. America is a bouquet.
William Safire
Never assume the obvious is true.
William Safire
At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
William Safire
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.
William Safire
Do not be taken in by 'insiderisms.' Fledgling columnists, eager to impress readers with their grasp of journalistic jargon, are drawn to such arcane spellings as 'lede.' Where they lede, do not follow.
William Safire
The Republicans do not look on the Democrats as the evil empire.
William Safire
Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?
William Safire
The Latin motto over Poindexter's new Pentagon office reads Scientia Est Potentia - knowledge is power. Exactly: the government's infinite knowledge about you is its power over you.
William Safire
The most successful column is one that causes the reader to throw down the paper in a peak of fit.
William Safire
The most fun in breaking a rule is in knowing what rule you're breaking.
William Safire
Avoid overuse of 'quotation “marks.”'
William Safire
The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.
William Safire
By elevating your reading, you will improve your writing or at least tickle your thinking.
William Safire
Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight.
William Safire
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
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.
William Safire
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.
William Safire
As long as one American is hungry... then we have unfinished business in this country.
William Safire