Download or read book Quoth the Maven written by William Safire and published by Random House (NY). This book was released on 1993 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pulitzer Prize-winner Safire elucidates contemporary figures of speech such as "kiss and tell", "stab in the back", and "the whole nine yards", and explains what White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater meant when he announced: "We can't winkle-picker this anymore". Cartoons.