Rewriting is the essence of writing well - where the game is won or lost. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
If you write for yourself, you'll reach all the people you want to write for. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
All writers should strive to deliver something fresh-something editors or readers won't know they want until they see it. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
I almost always urge people to write in the first person. ... Writing is an act of ego and you might as… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Writers can write to affirm and to celebrate, or they can write to debunk and destroy; the choice is ours. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Writing improves in direct ratio to the things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
The best way to learn to write is to study the work of the men and women who are doing the kind… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Writers must constantly ask: what I am trying to say? Surprisingly often, they don't know. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
One of underestimated tasks in nonfiction writing is to impose narrative shape on an unwieldy mass of material. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
“Writing can be taught or learned in the vacuum. We must say to students in every area of knowledge: "This is a… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
I have no interest in teaching writers how to sell. I want to teach them how to write. If the process is… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Don't try to guess what sort of thing editors want to publish or what you think the country is in a mood… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it's where the game is won or lost. The idea is hard to accept. We… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Writers who think THEY are being criticized when only that writing is being criticized are beyond a teacher's reach. Writing can only… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Don’t say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be tired. Be confused.… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Many writers are paralyzed by the thought that they are competing with everybody else who is trying to write and presumably doing… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Much of my writing has taken the form of a pilgrimage: to sacred places that represent the best of America, to musicians… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
If you would like to write better than everybody else, you have to want to write better than everybody else. You must… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds-the writer is always slightly behind, — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
“Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there.” — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Probably every subject is interesting if an avenue into it can be found that has humanity and that an ordinary person can… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
There are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps you to say what you want… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
As a writer I try to operate within a framework of Christian principles, and the words that are important to me are… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Writers are the custodians of memory, and that's what this chapter is about: how to leave some kind of record of your… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
“Mind in language are inseparable. If we violate our language we violate ourselves.” — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it's not a question of… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Nobody ever stopped reading E. B. White or V. S. Pritchett because the writing was too good. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
The writers job is like solving a puzzle, and finally arriving at a solution is a tremendous satisfaction. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
“But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every words that serves no function, every long word… — William Zinsser Copy Share
No one has something original or important to say will willing we run the risk of being misunderstood; people who write obscurely are either… — William Zinsser Copy Share
Avoid the ecstatic adjectives that occupy such disproportionate space in every critic's quiver - words like "enthralling" and "luminous." — William Zinsser Copy Share
Scholarship hath no fury like that of a language purist faced with sludge. — William Zinsser Copy Share
Clutter is the official language used by corporations to hide their mistakes. — William Zinsser Copy Share
Keep your paragraphs short. Writing is visual - it catches the eye before it has a chance to catch the brain. — William Zinsser Copy Share
Never hesitate to imitate another writer - every person learning a craft or an art needs models. Eventually you'll find your own voice and… — William Zinsser Copy Share
Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill rode to glory on the back of the strong declarative sentence. — William Zinsser Copy Share
Writing organizes and clarifies our thoughts. Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us… — William Zinsser Copy Share
Rewriting is the essence of writing well - where the game is won or lost. — William Zinsser Copy Share
Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other. — William Zinsser Copy Share
I almost always urge people to write in the first person. ... Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. — William Zinsser Copy Share
