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William Zinsser
30 quotes
“Writing is thinking on paper, or talking to someone on paper. If you can think clearly, or if you can talk to someone about the things you know and care about, you can write - with confidence and enjoyment.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is a book by a writer who does some teaching, not a book by a teacher who does some writing, and one of the satisfactions of the craft is that there's always something new to learn.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it's not a question of gimmicks to "personalize" the author.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things that people do.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A writer will do anything to avoid the act of writing.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Good writers are visible just behind their words.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You are writing for yourself.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you lose the dullards back in the dust, that's where they belong. You don't want them anyway.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what has been written before. Writing is learned by imitation.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The writer who cares about usage must always know the quick from the dead.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's a fitting irony that under Richard Nixon "launder" became a dirty word.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My roster of the new literature, in short, would include all the writers who come bearing new information and who present it with vigor, clarity and humanity.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Journalism is writing that first appears in any periodic journal.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Be a writer. Write things down.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've never heard anybody smile.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People and places are the twin pillars on which most nonfiction is built. Every human event happens somewhere, and the reader wants to know what that somewhere was like.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Probably the finest travel book ever written by an American is Walden, though Thoreau only went a mile out of town.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you write for yourself, you'll reach all the people you want to write for.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Memoir is the art of inventing the truth.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Good writing is lean and confident.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nobody ever stopped reading E. B. White or V. S. Pritchett because the writing was too good.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never hesitate to imitate another writer - every person learning a craft or an art needs models. Eventually you'll find your own voice and will shed the skin of the writer you imitated.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best way to learn to write is to study the work of the men and women who are doing the kind of writing you want to do.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pure nonsense is a joy forever, as Keats didn't quite say. I love to see a writer flying high, just for the hell of it.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The writers job is like solving a puzzle, and finally arriving at a solution is a tremendous satisfaction.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You must find some way to elevate your act of writing into entertainment.”
William Zinsser (1922–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source