A Quote by William Safire

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

William Safire

Quote Topics

Avoid Cliches Last Least Like Plague

Quote Author

William Safire
American - Author
December 17, 1929 - September 27, 2009

Do not put statements in the negative form. And don't start sentences with a conjunction. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all. De-accession euphemisms. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

William Safire

about clichés. Avoid them like the plague.

Khaled Hosseini

I don't think there are any clichés I try to avoid. As soon as I spot a cliché, I go for it. I feel like clichés are the most useful thing in songwriting. They're the tool on which you build all the rest of the song.

Stephin Merritt

Beware of clichés. Not just the clichés that Martin Amis is at war with. There are clichés of response as well as expression. There are clichés of observation and of thought - even of conception. Many novels, even quite a few adequately written ones, are clichés of form which conform to clichés of expectation.

Geoff Dyer

When you're a writer, you want to try to avoid cliches. Unfortunately, when you're writing about marriage or family, all cliches seem to apply.

Dan Savage

I've had my fair share of colds, which last longer than they should and can cause wheezing, so I avoid people who are sneezing like the plague and am scrupulous about hygiene and hand-washing.

Kevin McCloud

Don't avoid the cliches - they are cliches because they work!

George Lucas

That's the last thing on Earth you should think about... There's just a whole lot of things that aren't going to work for you. Figure out what they are and avoid them like the plague. And one of them is bitcoin... It is total insanity.

Charlie Munger

Most artists try to avoid cliches, but it's pretty hard to avoid them if you yourself end up being one.

Daryl Hall

I avoid subways like the plague because I'm claustrophobic.

Patty Griffin

I try not to look back at anything I do. I avoid it like the plague.

RJ Mitte

Sure there are some companies at the margins of our society that probably do that and I think we all have the responsibility as consumers and as investors to avoid them like the plague. If we do, they won't last very long. Doing what's right is the only possible formula for long-term - I emphasize long term - business success.