Quotes by William Zinsser

If a philosophical writer cannot be followed, the difficulty of his subject can be placed only in mitigation of his offense, not in condonation of it. There are too many expert witnesses on the other side.

But on the question of who youre writing for, dont be eager to please.

Learn to enjoy this tidying process. I dont like to write; I like to have written. But I love to rewrite. I especially like to cut: to press the DELETE key and see an unnecessary word or phrase or sentence vanish into the electricity. I like to replace a humdrum word with one that has more precision or color. I like to strengthen the transition between one sentence and another. I like to rephrase a drab sentence to give it a more pleasing rhythm or a more graceful musical line. With every small refinement I feel that Im coming nearer to where I would like to arrive, and when I finally get there I know it was the rewriting, not the writing, that wont the game.

But apart from these lazinesses of logic, what makes the story so tired is the failure of the writer to reach for anything but the nearest cliche. Shouldered his way, only to be met, crashing into his face, waging a lonely war, corruption that is rife, sending shock waves, New Yorks finest, - these dreary phrases constitute writing at its most banal. We know just what to expect. No surprise awaits us in the form of an unusual word, an oblique look. We are in the hands of a hack, and we know it right away, We stop reading.

It wont do to say that the reader is too dumb or too lazy to keep pace with the train of thought. If the reader is lost, its usually because the writer hasnt be careful enough.

It wont do to say that the reader is too dumb or too lazy to keep pace with the train of thought. If the reader is lost, its usually because the writer hasnt been careful enough

Beware, then, of the long word thats no better than the short word: assistance (help), numerous (many), facilitate (ease), Individual (man or woman), remainder (rest), initial (first), implement (do), sufficient (enough), attempt (try), referred to as (called), and hundreds more. Beware of all the slippery new fad words: paradigm and parameter, prioritize and potentialize. They are all weeds that will smother what you write. Dont dialogue with someone you can talk to. Dont interface with anybody.

One of underestimated tasks in nonfiction writing is to impose narrative shape on an unwieldy mass of material.

Probably every subject is interesting if an avenue into it can be found that has humanity and that an ordinary person can follow.

Writing can be taught or learned in the vacuum. We must say to students in every area of knowledge: This is a how other people have written about this subject. Read it; study it; think about it. You can do it too.

Its no fun to think about infinity and no cinche to write about it. Again, it helps to look for some human link.

I never think of him as a scholar assaulting me with how much he knows, but as a teacher eager to share a lifelong passion for the subject.

Editors are licensed to be curious.

But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long words that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning thats 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 education and rank.

Was the whole matter of aptitudes a myth – a copout used by people like me to avoid subjects that would force us to think inTherefore threatening ways?

The reader is someone with an attention span of about 30 seconds.

Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy? Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging on to something useless just because you think its beautiful?...Simplify, simplify.