"The secret of good writing is to strip……" — William Zinsser
"The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what—these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur in proportion to the education and rank."
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William Zinsser
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More Adverb Quotes
This quote is filed under Adverb Quotes,
one of 13 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:
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You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analagous to a good country breakfast: what…
— Larry McMurtry
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Never use an adverb to modify the verb 'said' . . . he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this…
— Elmore Leonard
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A relativist is an individual who doesn't know the difference between an adjective and an adverb.
— Bill Gaede
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I don't really know what an adverb is. A dangling participle? That sounds really rude. I don't know what character…
— Colum McCann
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Words are like that, they deceive, they pile up, it seems they do not know where to go, and, suddenly,…
— Jose Saramago
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Frankly, I wonder who Frank was, and why he has an adverb all to himself.
— Jodi Picoult
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Death to all modifiers, he declared one day, and out of every letter that passed through his hands went every…
— Joseph Heller
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Saw you walking barefoot taking a long look at the new moon's eyelid later spread sleep-fallen, naked in your dark…
— Adrienne Rich
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No worries, Atticus. I will snarf surreptitiously. And I should get bacon, because my adverb was two syllables longer than…
— Kevin Hearne
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Surely: the adverb of a man without an argument.
— Edward St Aubyn
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I've always loved the flirtatious tango of consonants and vowels, the sturdy dependability of nouns and capricious whimsy of verbs,…
— Dennis Miller
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Actually is far and away the most insulting adverb
— Nikhil Saluja
See all 13 Adverb Quotes »