William Safire
William Safire
William Lewis Safire was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth17 December 1929
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
heart ideas world
The tension between the governed and the governing is what makes the world go 'round. It's not love, it's that tension, because that tension exists in love affairs. The whole idea of control is at the heart of human relationships. Control and resistance to control.
successful paper causes
The most successful column is one that causes the reader to throw down the paper in a peak of fit.
eye ems stories
Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes.
knowing space boxing
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.
size language fit
English is a stretch language; one size fits all.
knees jerk
Better to be a jerk that knees than a knee that jerks.
color grace style
Adapt your style, if you wish, to admit the color of slang or freshness of neologism, but hang tough on clarity, precision, structure, grace.
children able causes
A dependent clause is like a dependent child: incapable of standing on its own but able to cause a lot of trouble.
book should-have intellectual
A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject.
needs looks dictionary
When I need to know the meaning of a word, I look it up in a dictionary.
baby order nwo
... 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.
ambition ideas boredom
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.
winning political imperfect
Decide on some imperfect Somebody and you will win, because the truest truism in politics is: You can't beat Somebody with Nobody.
presidential rogues faces
Our rogue President, after selling face time...