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
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.
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.
mind able companion
A reader ought to be able to hold it and become familiar with its organized contents and make it a mind's manageable companion.
cat lines stories
Dangling punch lines to forgotten stories remain in the language like the smile of the Cheshire cat.
liars lying believe
A man who lies, thinking it is the truth, is an honest man, and a man who tells the truth, believing it to be a lie, is a liar.
empathy president politician
President Reagan is a rhetorical roundheels, as befits a politician seeking empathy with his audience.
different news opinion
The remarkable legion of the unremarked, whose individual opinions are not colorful or different enough to make news, but whose collective opinion, when crystallized, can make history.
leader causes strategy
Of higher value than any one leader is the cause.
sports team government
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.
character duty
When duty calls, that is when character counts.
believe men challenges
Some handsome and ambitious men believe they are above all morality, and a woman's virtue becomes a mere challenge to them.
taken differences ransom
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.
earth realizing pleasure
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.
hands want smoothies
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.