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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
Better
Jerks
Knee
Jerk
Knees

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Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. And don't start a sentence with a conjugation.
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A dependent clause is like a dependent child: incapable of standing on its own but able to cause a lot of trouble.
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A man who lies, thinking it is the truth, is an honest man, and a man who tells the truth, believing it to be a lie, is a liar.
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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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If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself.
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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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Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes.
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Adapt your style, if you wish, to admit the color of slang or freshness of neologism, but hang tough on clarity, precision, structure, grace.
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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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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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A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject.
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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 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.
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Have a definite opinion.
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What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation.
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As long as one American is hungry... then we have unfinished business in this country.
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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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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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Dangling punch lines to forgotten stories remain in the language like the smile of the Cheshire cat.
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