Avoid overuse of 'quotation “marks.”' William Safire More Quotes by William Safire More Quotes From William Safire 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. William Safire repetition reading editing The remarkable legion of the unremarked, whose individual opinions are not colorful or different enough to make news, but whose collective opinion, when crystallized, can make history. William Safire news opinion different The perfect Christmas gift for a sportscaster, as all fans of sports clichés know, is a scoreless tie. William Safire ties perfect sports I think we have a need to know what we do not need to know. William Safire knows needs thinking At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning. William Safire use mean people 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. William Safire boredom ambition ideas Dangling punch lines to forgotten stories remain in the language like the smile of the Cheshire cat. William Safire lines cat stories 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. William Safire nuance tired needs A dependent clause is like a dependent child: incapable of standing on its own but able to cause a lot of trouble. William Safire able causes children After eating, an epicure gives a thin smile of satisfaction; a gastronome, burping into his napkin, praises the food in a magazine; a gourmet, repressing his burp, criticizes the food in the same magazine; a gourmand belches happily and tells everybody where he ate; a glutton empraces the white porcelain alter, or more plainly, he barfs. William Safire satisfaction white giving No one flower can ever symbolize this nation. America is a bouquet. William Safire bouquets flower america I'm willing to zap conservatives when they do things that are not libertarian. William Safire libertarian willing Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes. William Safire ems eye hot Adapt your style, if you wish, to admit the color of slang or freshness of neologism, but hang tough on clarity, precision, structure, grace. William Safire style color grace 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. William Safire boxing space knowing ... it's Bush's baby, even if he shares its popularization with Gorbachev. Forget the Hitler 'new order' root; F.D.R. used the phrase earlier. William Safire nwo roots baby The most fun in breaking a rule is in knowing what rule you're breaking. William Safire knowing fun The first ladyship is the only federal office in which the holder can neither be fired nor impeached. William Safire first-lady office firsts Have a definite opinion. William Safire definite opinion Of higher value than any one leader is the cause. William Safire strategy causes leader
