It behooves us to avoid archaisms. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. — William Safire Copy Share Image
Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available? — William Safire Copy Share Image
When I need to know the meaning of a word, I look it up in a dictionary. — William Safire Copy Share Image
At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning. — William Safire Copy Share Image
I welcome new words, or old words used in new ways, provided the result is more precision, added color or greater expressiveness. — William Safire Copy Share Image
“On the two-way street of communication, a happy symbiosis is achieved when a writer tosses up an offbeat usage or a puzzling… — William Safire Copy Share Image
Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year. — William Safire Copy Share Image
The noun phrase straw man, now used as a compound adjective as in 'straw-man device, technique or issue,' was popularized in American… — William Safire Copy Share Image
Color and bite permeate a language designed to rally many men, to destroy some, and to change the minds of others. — William Safire Copy Share Image
To communicate, put your words in order; give them a purpose; use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce. — William Safire Copy Share Image
Dangling punch lines to forgotten stories remain in the language like the smile of the Cheshire cat. — William Safire Copy Share Image
The new, old, and constantly changing language of politics is a lexicon of conflict and drama?ridicule and reproach?pleading and persuasion. — William Safire Copy Share Image
Stop worrying about the 'dumbing down' of our language by bloggers, tweeters, cableheads and MSM thumbsuckers engaged in a 'race to the… — William Safire Copy Share Image
“Not long ago, I advertised for perverse rules of grammar, along the lines of "Remember to never split an infinitive" and "The… — William Safire Copy Share Image
Decide on some imperfect Somebody and you will win, because the truest truism in politics is: You can't beat Somebody with Nobody. — William Safire Copy Share
Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight. — William Safire Copy Share
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… — William Safire Copy Share
This is what it's all about. From what I could see, you could get a bunch of people together, whip up the press and… — William Safire Copy Share
A man who lies, thinking it is the truth, is an honest man, and a man who tells the truth, believing it to be… — William Safire Copy Share
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… — William Safire Copy Share
Today, war of necessity is used by critics of military action to describe unavoidable response to an attack like that on Pearl Harbor that… — William Safire Copy Share
To communicate, put your words in order; give them a purpose; use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce. — William Safire Copy Share
“Chandler’s “She was blonde enough to make a bishop kick a hole through a stained-glass window” — William Safire Copy Share
You don't overturn a previous court's decisions lightly and I think most Americans are somewhere in the middle on abortion and there's not going… — William Safire Copy Share
