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Better to be a jerk that knees than a knee that jerks.

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
Jerks
Knee
Jerk
Knees
Better

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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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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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I could get a better education interviewing John Steinbeck than talking to an English professor about novels.
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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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To 'know your place' is a good idea in politics. That is not to say 'stay in your place' or 'hang on to your place', because ambition or boredom may dictate upward or downward mobility, but a sense of place - a feel for one's own position in the control room-is useful in gauging what you should try to do.
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Have a definite opinion.
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English is a stretch language one size fits all.
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I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years.
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Some handsome and ambitious men believe they are above all morality, and a woman's virtue becomes a mere challenge to them.
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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.
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When your government, employer, landlord, merchant, banker and local sports team gang up to picture, digitize and permanently record your every activity, you are placed under unprecedented control.
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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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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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A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject.
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We are all environmentalists now, but we are not all planetists. An environmentalist realizes that nature has its pleasures and deserves respect. A planetist puts the earth ahead of the earthlings.
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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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Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes.
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Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.
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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.
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The perfect Christmas gift for a sportscaster, as all fans of sports clichés know, is a scoreless tie.
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