William Lewis Safir Quotes
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Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.
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No one flower can ever symbolize this nation. America is a bouquet.
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Writers who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media.
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The first ladyship is the only federal office in which the holder can neither be fired nor impeached.
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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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I was standing next to a famed geo-politician when the first news of the Argentine attack [on the Faulkland Islands] was received, and heard him muse incredulously: "An old-fashioned naval battle. A war between two civilized nations, perhaps with even a declaration of war, and later a peace conference. Wow." No hostages, no nukes, no ideologies, no religious fanaticism; just a fair-and-square war over national interests - hard to believe, in this day and age.
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As long as one American is hungry... then we have unfinished business in this country.
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When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.
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One difference between French appeasement and American appeasement is that France pays ransom in cash and gets its hostages back while the United States pays ransom in arms and gets additional hostages taken.
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The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.
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I think we have a need to know what we do not need to know.
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Color and bite permeate a language designed to rally many men, to destroy some, and to change the minds of others.
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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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A reader should be able to identify a column without its byline or funny little picture on top purely by look or feel, or its turgidity ratio.
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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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Have a definite opinion.
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A reader ought to be able to hold it and become familiar with its organized contents and make it a mind's manageable companion.
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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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In dealing with Syria's dictator...only force counts. No cease-fire was attainable in Lebanon until the 16-inch guns of the battleship New Jersey started shelling Syria's proxies; suddenly, sweet reason prevailed in Damascus.
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You don't want lopsided government. You don't want one side running roughshod over the other.
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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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Avoid overuse of 'quotation “marks.”'
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When duty calls, that is when character counts.
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The most fun in breaking a rule is in knowing what rule you're breaking.