Quote

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.

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
People
Denounce
Roar
Anarchy
Tyranny
Cry
Freedom
Voice
Nature
Deride

More quotes by William Safire

Image
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
Image
A reader ought to be able to hold it and become familiar with its organized contents and make it a mind's manageable companion.
William Safire
Image
Carter is the best President the Soviet Union ever had.
William Safire
Image
As long as one American is hungry... then we have unfinished business in this country.
William Safire
Image
You don't overturn a previous court's decisions lightly and I think most Americans are somewhere in the middle on abortion and there's not going to be a revolution here at all.
William Safire
Image
Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?
William Safire
Image
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
Image
If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself.
William Safire
Image
Some handsome and ambitious men believe they are above all morality, and a woman's virtue becomes a mere challenge to them.
William Safire
Image
The perfect Christmas gift for a sportscaster, as all fans of sports clichés know, is a scoreless tie.
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
When duty calls, that is when character counts.
William Safire
Image
Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes.
William Safire
Image
Never assume the obvious is true.
William Safire
Image
I think we have a need to know what we do not need to know.
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
Better to be a jerk that knees than a knee that jerks.
William Safire
Image
The trick is to start early in our careers the stress-relieving avocation that we will need later as a mind-exercising final vocation. We can quit a job, but we quit fresh involvement at our mental peril.
William Safire
Image
Have a definite opinion.
William Safire
Image
A dependent clause is like a dependent child: incapable of standing on its own but able to cause a lot of trouble.
William Safire