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
Writing improves in direct ratio to the things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Writing is such lonely work that I try to keep myself cheered up. If something strikes me as funny in the act… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
A writer is obviously at his most natural and relaxed when he writes in the first person. Writing is a personal transaction… — 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
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
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
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
Finding a voice that your readers will enjoy is largely a matter of taste. Saying that isn't much help-taste is a quality… — 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
Not everybody has a talent for painting, or for the piano, or for dance. But we can write our way into the… — 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
“No kind of writing lodges itself so deeply in our memory, echoing there for the rest of our lives, as the books… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Telling a writer to relax is like telling a man to relax while being prodded for a possible hernia. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
“If a philosophical writer cannot be followed, the difficulty of his subject can be placed only in mitigation of his offense, not… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
“Soon after you confront the matter of preserving your identity, another question will occur to you: “Who am I writing for?” It’s… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Writing wasn't easy and wasn't fun. It was hard and lonely, and the words seldom just flowed. — 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
“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 Image
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 Image
Avoid the ecstatic adjectives that occupy such disproportionate space in every critic's quiver - words like "enthralling" and "luminous." — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Scholarship hath no fury like that of a language purist faced with sludge. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Clutter is the official language used by corporations to hide their mistakes. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Keep your paragraphs short. Writing is visual - it catches the eye before it has a chance to catch the brain. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
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 Image
Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill rode to glory on the back of the strong declarative sentence. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
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 Image
Rewriting is the essence of writing well - where the game is won or lost. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
