Only in grammar can you be more than perfect. William Safire More Quotes by William Safire More Quotes From William Safire 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. William Safire nuggets news looks 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. William Safire jargon columnists taken Gridlock is great. My motto is, 'Don't just do something. Stand there.' William Safire gridlock motto politics [Senators John Kerry & John Edwards] have risen high in Democratic polls with a brand of class resentment and soak-the-rich rhetoric rooted in the old-fashioned liberalism of Ted Kennedy. William Safire resentment politics class On the analogy of 'Dictionary Johnson,' we call Fred R. Shapiro, editor of the just-published Yale Book of Quotations (well worth the $50 price), 'Quotationeer Shapiro.' Shapiro does original research, earning his 1,067-page volume a place on the quotation shelf next to Bartlett's and Oxford's. William Safire editors yale book To communicate, put your words in order; give them a purpose; use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce. William Safire purpose giving order Don't expect others to do your work for you. William Safire work 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. William Safire ratios littles looks I want my questions answered by an alert and experienced politician, prepared to be grilled and quoted -- not my hand held by an old smoothie. William Safire smoothies want hands 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 . . . William Safire cfo nice giving 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. William Safire realizing pleasure earth 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. William Safire united-states differences taken If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself. William Safire humorous war funny When your government, employer, landlord, merchant, banker and local sports team gang up to picture, digitize and permanently record your every activity, you are placed under unprecedented control. William Safire team government sports English is a stretch language; one size fits all. William Safire size fit language 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. William Safire dummy accused mind What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation. William Safire manipulation media joy 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. William Safire knows today 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. William Safire new-york wonderful long Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year. William Safire fighting light years
