William Safire Zitate auf Englisch

Zitat des Tages von William Safire:

Writers who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media.

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

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

Have a definite opinion.

William Safire

Today, war of necessity is used by critics of military action to describe unavoidable response to an attack like that on Pearl Harbor that led to our prompt, official declaration of war, while they characterize as unwise wars of choice the wars in Korea, Vietnam and the current war in Iraq.

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

Stop worrying about the 'dumbing down' of our language by bloggers, tweeters, cableheads and MSM thumbsuckers engaged in a 'race to the bottom' of the page by little minds confined to little words.

William Safire

Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

William Safire

Writers who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media.

William Safire

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

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.

William Safire

The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.

William Safire

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

William Safire

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

William Safire

When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.

William Safire

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

William Safire

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

William Safire

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

William Safire

The noun phrase straw man, now used as a compound adjective as in 'straw-man device, technique or issue,' was popularized in American culture by 'The Wizard of Oz.'

William Safire

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

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