William Safire, one of the best minds on the right (or anywhere) is—well, he'd hate for me to say “retire.” As he explains:

The Nobel laureate James Watson, who started a revolution in science as co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, put it to me straight a couple of years ago: "Never retire. Your brain needs exercise or it will atrophy."

Why, then, am I bidding Op-Ed readers farewell today after more than 3,000 columns? Nobody pushed me; at 75, I'm in good shape, not afflicted with political ennui; and my recent column about tsunami injustice and the Book of Job drew the biggest mail response in 32 years of pounding out punditry.

Here's why I'm outta here: In an interview 50 years before, the aging adman Bruce Barton told me something like Watson's advice about the need to keep trying something new, which I punched up into "When you're through changing, you're through." He gladly adopted the aphorism, which I've been attributing to him ever since.

Combine those two bits of counsel - never retire, but plan to change your career to keep your synapses snapping - and you can see the path I'm now taking...

He'll be assuming the chairmanship of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiaves, a group devoted to the advancement of brain study and science. Given the state of the union, it's comforting to see someone taking an interest in improving our collective brains—and a pity to lose one as fine as Safire's to it.

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