William F. Buckley, "requiescat in pace"

While I might have disagreed with most of Mr. Buckley's political attitudes, he contributed early on to my interest in language by his own, obvious enthusiasm for it. I will separate his right-leaning stance from his love of language and the work ethic which built his words into ideas, and his ideas into many volumes. He died in his study, presumably at work.

Some bits to remember him by--

On Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: "One thousand pages of ideological fabulism; I had to flog myself to read it."

On finding fault with God and Man at Yale, Buckley's first major success, "As you grow older, you become more exacting with respect to your own performances."

On being told by a fellow sailor that the sailor "liked being his mate." Buckley corrected the man, "You are my first mate. I have a mate. Her name is Pat."

Pat Buckley was Buckley's wife. She predeceased him less than a year ago.