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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
More quotes by William Safire
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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When duty calls, that is when character counts.
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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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Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.
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Decide on some imperfect Somebody and you will win, because the truest truism in politics is: You can't beat Somebody with Nobody.
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Took me a while to get to the point today, but that is because I did not know what the point was when I started.
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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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Carter is the best President the Soviet Union ever had.
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Create your own constituency of the infuriated.
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I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years.
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As long as one American is hungry... then we have unfinished business in this country.
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Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.
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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.
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English is a stretch language one size fits all.
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To communicate, put your words in order give them a purpose use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce.
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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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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 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.
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What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation.
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The new, old, and constantly changing language of politics is a lexicon of conflict and drama?ridicule and reproach?pleading and persuasion.
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