William Safire Quotes

Euphemisms are worrisome… Presidential words matter…

Political speeches are a particularly low form of rhetoric.

The nature of politics is to subtract meaning from language.

The last thing a political party gives up is its vocabulary.

The greatest weapon in an ideological war is words.

Selling and telling are two different things. In politics, we sell ideas.

There is no such thing as a nonpolitical speech by a politician.

The language of politics is poetry, not prose. Jackson is poetry. Cuomo is poetry. Dukakis is a word processor.

Preaching to the choir actually arms the choir with arguments and elevates the choir's discourse. There's a reason the right does it and does it well and triumphs.

Modern political speechwriting is certainly a skill, and one that requires experience and practice to master.

In politics, there's a kind of literal-mindedness. It's what you say, not what you mean, and you have to say only what you mean.

Facts are not liberals' strong suit. Rhetoric is.

Modern political speechwriting is not a high-minded pursuit for brilliant talents.

Political rhetoric leads only to confusion.

I think almost every political leader is always told that the next speech they make is the most crucial one.

If you stand on a soapbox and trade rhetoric with a dictator you never win.

No politician has ever been defeated by a speech he didn’t give.

The term “democratic” is often used merely as a term of praise or ridicule among various political factions. One person or faction is described as either democratic or undemocratic, depending on whether its supporters or detractors are speaking.

A political war is one in which people shoot from the lip.

Competition is the new code word, and Washington needs code words. It doesn't think in sentences often.

Part of politics is redundancy. You’ve got to say the same thing over and over even if you get tired of it…not everyone has heard it.

The Politician uses the language of diplomacy of which he is a master, and it consists in telling some of the truth without necessarily exhausting it.

The last thing a political party gives up is its vocabulary. This is because, in party politics as in other matters, it is the party membership that dictates the language, and the membership relinquishes the ideas it has been given more readily than the words it has learned..

Scholars know that the processes of politics normally involve exaggeration, myth making and fierce animosities.

You never discount a demagogue.