William Safire
The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.
Never assume the obvious is true.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
Stop worrying about the 'dumbing down' of our language by bloggers, tweeters, cableheads and MSM thumbsuckers engaged in a 'race to the bottom' of the page by little minds confined to little words.
Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.
Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.
Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight.
A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject.
Writers who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media.
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.
Today, war of necessity is used by critics of military action to describe unavoidable response to an attack like that on Pearl Harbor that led to our prompt, official declaration of war, while they characterize as unwise wars of choice the wars in Korea, Vietnam and the current war in Iraq.
Have a definite opinion.
I think we all have a need to know what we do not need to know.
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.
I'm willing to zap conservatives when they do things that are not libertarian.
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.
I welcome new words, or old words used in new ways, provided the result is more precision, added color or greater expressiveness.
At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years.
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.
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.
When infuriated by an outrageous column, do not be suckered into responding with an abusive e-mail. Pundits so targeted thumb through these red-faced electronic missives with delight, saying 'Hah! Got to 'em.'
Cast aside any column about two subjects. It means the pundit chickened out on the hard decision about what to write about that day.
To be accused of 'channeling' is to be dismissed as a ventriloquist's live dummy, derogated at not having a mind of one's own.
What do you call a co-worker these days? Neither teammate nor confederate will do, and partner is too legalistic. The answer brought from academia to the political world by Henry Kissinger and now bandied in the boardroom is colleague. It has a nice upper-egalitarian feel, related to the good fellowship of collegial.
Sometimes I know the meaning of a word but am tired of it and feel the need for an unfamiliar, especially precise or poetic term, perhaps one with a nuance that flatters my readership's exquisite sensitivity.
When I need to know the meaning of a word, I look it up in a dictionary.
A reader ought to be able to hold it and become familiar with its organized contents and make it a mind's manageable companion.
The noun phrase straw man, now used as a compound adjective as in 'straw-man device, technique or issue,' was popularized in American culture by 'The Wizard of Oz.'
When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.
Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected.Collection: Humble
Do not put statements in the negative form. And don't start sentences with a conjunction. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all. De-accession euphemisms. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.Collection: Editing
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.Collection: Voice
If you want to "get in touch with your feelings," fine, talk to yourself. We all do. But if you want to communicate with another thinking human being, get in touch with your thoughts. Put them in order, give them a purpose, use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce. The secret way to do this is to write it down, and then cut out the confusing parts.Collection: Writing
When duty calls, that is when character counts.Collection: Character
A dependent clause is like a dependent child: incapable of standing on its own but able to cause a lot of trouble.Collection: Children
As long as one American is hungry... then we have unfinished business in this country.Collection: Country
Gridlock is great. My motto is, 'Don't just do something. Stand there.'Collection: Politics
Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.Collection: English Grammar
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.Collection: Passive Voice
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.Collection: Latin
I think we have a need to know what we do not need to know.Collection: Thinking
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.Collection: Today
To communicate, put your words in order; give them a purpose; use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce.Collection: Order
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.Collection: Liars
Don't expect others to do your work for you.Collection: Work
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.Collection: Ambition
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.Collection: Knowing
I could get a better education interviewing John Steinbeck than talking to an English professor about novels.Collection: Talking
Color and bite permeate a language designed to rally many men, to destroy some, and to change the minds of others.Collection: Men