If you write for yourself, you'll reach all the people you want to write for. — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity. — 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
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
“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
“Mind in language are inseparable. If we violate our language we violate ourselves.” — 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
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
Never say anything in writing that you wouldn't comfortably say in conversation. Be yourself when you write. If you're not a person… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Writing is not a special language that belongs to a few sensitive souls who have a 'gift for words'. Writing is the… — 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… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Write about small, self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory. If you remember them, it's because they contain a larger… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
“This fixation on the finished article causes writers a lot of trouble, deflecting them from all the earlier decisions that have to… — 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
Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Proceed with confidence, generating it, if necessary, by pure willpower. Writing is an… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Get people talking. Learn to ask questions that will elicit answers about what is most interesting or vivid in their lives. Nothing… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
My commodity as a writer, whatever I'm writing about, is me. And your commodity is you. Don't alter your voice to fit… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
“What a pleasure it is to be in the company of a writer with enthusiasm for his subject! It doesn't matter what… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
Tips can make someone a better writer but not necessarily a good writer. That's a larger package - a matter of character.… — 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
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
“Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence… — 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… — William Zinsser Copy Share Image
All your clear and pleasing sentences will fall apart if you don't keep remembering that writing is linear and sequential, that logic… — 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
