Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

William Safire

American Author, Columnist, Journalist, Lexicographer and Presidential Speechwriter, Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

"A sense of moral glue, constantly subject to stress."

"Remember to never split an infinitive. A preposition is something never to end a sentence with. The passive voice should never be used. Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read. Don't use no double negatives. Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it isn't. Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when its not needed. Do not put statements in the negative form. Verbs have to agree with their subjects. No sentence fragments. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. Avoid commas, that are not necessary. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. A writer must not shift your point of view. Eschew dialect, irregardless. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. Don't overuse exclamation marks!!! Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents. Hyphenate between sy- llables and avoid un-necessary hyphens. Write all adverbial forms correct. Don't use contractions in formal writing. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided. It is incumbent on us to avoid archaisms. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the language. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, resist hyperbole. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration. Don't string too many prepositional phrases together unless you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Always pick on the correct idiom. "Avoid overuse of 'quotation "marks."'" The adverb always follows the verb. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; They're old hat; seek viable alternatives. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. Employ the vernacular. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary. Contractions aren't necessary. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos. One should never generalize. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." Comparisons are as bad as clichés. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous. Be more or less specific. Understatement is always best. One-word sentences? Eliminate. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms. Who needs rhetorical questions? Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. capitalize every sentence and remember always end it with a point. "

"Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Verbs have to agree with their subjects. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be by rereading and editing. A writer must not shift your point of view. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.) Don't overuse exclamation marks!! Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing. Always pick on the correct idiom. The adverb always follows the verb. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives. "

"A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject."

"A reader ought to be able to hold it and become familiar with its organized contents and make it a mind's manageable companion."

"Adapt your style, if you wish, to admit the color of slang or freshness of neologism, but hang tough on clarity, precision, structure, grace."

"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."

"At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning."

"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 embraces the white porcelain altar, or, more plainly, he barfs."

"Cast aside any column about two subjects. It means the pundit chickened out on the hard decision about what to write about that day."

"Composition is a discipline; it forces us to think. If you want to 'get in touch with your feelings,' fine — talk to yourself; we all do. But, if you want to communicate with another thinking human being, get in touch with your thoughts. Put them in order; give them a purpose; use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce. The secret way to do this is to write it down and then cut out the confusing parts."

"Create your own constituency of the infuriated."

"Dangling punch lines to forgotten stories remain in the language like the smile of the Cheshire cat."

"Decide on some imperfect Somebody and you will win, because the truest truism in politics is You can't beat Somebody with Nobody."

"Because that would be foolish politically, and I think there's a lot of practicality going on."

"Better to be a jerk that knees than a knee that jerks."

"Brushing aside the stern criticism, Safire immediately debated whether it should be damn, the way it sounds, or damned, as the past participle of the verb, to damn. The ed on some words is simply slipping away, he points out. We're seeing more barbecue chicken, whip cream and corn beef. His conclusion: Ears are sloppy and eyes are precise; accordingly, speech can be loose but writing should be tight."

"Ears are sloppy and eyes are precise; accordingly, speech can be loose but writing should be tight."

"English is a stretch language; one size fits all."

"For the sake of the country, the conservative cause, the Republican party and even his own long-term career -- he ought to resign."

"Have a definite opinion."

"I could get a better education interviewing John Steinbeck than talking to an English professor about novels."

"I think we all have a need to know what we do not need to know"

"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."

"I welcome new words, or old words used in new ways, provided the result is more precision, added color or greater expressiveness."

"If America cannot win a war in a week, it begins negotiating with itself."

"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."

"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."

"If you want to "get in touch with your feelings," fine, talk to yourself. We all do. But if you want to communicate with another thinking human being, get in touch with your thoughts. Put them in order, give them a purpose, use them to persuade, to instruct, to discover, to seduce. The secret way to do this is to write it down, and then cut out the confusing parts."

"I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years."

"I'm willing to zap conservatives when they do things that are not libertarian."

"In lieu of those checks and balances central to our legal system, non-citizens face an executive that is now investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury, and jailer or executioner. In an Orwellian twist, Bush's order calls this Soviet-style abomination 'a full and fair trial'."

"In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism."

"Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy I don't know and I don't care."

"It is in the nature of tyranny to deride the will of the people as the voice of the mob, and to denounce the cry for freedom as the roar of anarchy."

"Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight."

"Never assume the obvious is true."

"Never generalize."

"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."

"Never put the story in the lead. Let 'em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes."

"Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do."

"No one flower can ever symbolize this nation. America is a bouquet."

"Nobody stands taller than those willing to stand corrected."

"Not long ago, I advertised for perverse rules of grammar, along the lines of "Remember to never split an infinitive" and "The passive voice should never be used." The notion of making a mistake while laying down rules ("Thimk," "We Never Make Misteaks") is highly unoriginal, and it turns out that English teachers have been circulating lists of fumble-rules for years. As owner of the world's largest collection, and with thanks to scores of readers, let me pass along a bunch of these never-say-neverisms: Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read. Don't use no double negatives. Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it isn't. Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when it’s not needed. Do not put statements in the negative form. Verbs has to agree with their subjects. No sentence fragments. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. Avoid commas, that are not necessary. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. A writer must not shift your point of view. Eschew dialect, irregardless. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. Don't overuse exclamation marks!!! Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents. Writers should always hyphenate between syllables and avoid un-necessary hyph-ens. Write all adverbial forms correct. Don't use contractions in formal writing. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided. It is incumbent on us to avoid archaisms. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the language. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, resist hyperbole. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration. Don't string too many prepositional phrases together unless you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Always pick on the correct idiom. "Avoid overuse of 'quotation "marks."'" The adverb always follows the verb. Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague; seek viable alternatives."

"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."

"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."

"Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year."

"Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. And don't start a sentence with a conjugation."

"She would take it and perform a typographical miracle. It was like looking at an E. E. Cummings page."

"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."