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When duty calls, that is when character counts.

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
Counts
Calls
Duty
Character

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Adjective salad is delicious, with each element contributing its individual and unique flavor but a puree of adjective soup tastes yecchy.
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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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In lieu of those checks and balances central to our legal system, non-citizens face an executive that is now investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury and jailer or executioner. In an Orwellian twist, Bush's order calls this Soviet-style abomination 'a full and fair trial.'
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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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I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years.
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George Washington had a tough second term.
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It behooves us to avoid archaisms. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
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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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Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.
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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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Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?
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What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation.
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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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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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Create your own constituency of the infuriated.
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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 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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Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.
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When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.
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I think we have a need to know what we do not need to know.
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