William Zinsser Quotes

Quotes about:

• Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things that people do

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Hard Work, People

  William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.9, Harper Collins

  31 Copy quote

• Writing is thinking on paper.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Thinking, Paper

  "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser, Introduction, (p. vii), 1976.

  51 Copy quote

• Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity.

  William Zinsser

  Inspirational, Writing, Simplicity

  "Writing to Clients and Referring Professionals about Psychological Assessment". Book by J. B. Allyn (p. 164), 2012.

  23 Copy quote

• Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading.

  William Zinsser

  Reading, Writing, Easy

  27 Copy quote

• Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it's where the game is won or lost. The idea is hard to accept. We all have emotional equity in our first draft; we can't believe that it wasn't born perfect. But the odds are close to 100 percent that it wasn't.

  William Zinsser

  Believe, Writing, Emotional

  6 Copy quote

• Dare to tell the smallest of stories if you want to generate large emotions.

  William Zinsser

  Stories, Want, Emotion

  William Zinsser “The Writer Who Stayed”, Paul Dry Books

  3 Copy quote

• Writing is not a special language that belongs to a few sensitive souls who have a 'gift for words'. Writing is the logical arrangement of thought. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly---about any subject at all.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Thinking, Soul

  24 Copy quote

• Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose.

  William Zinsser

  Numbers, Purpose, Paper

  William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.12, Harper Collins

  10 Copy quote

• Writing improves in direct ratio to the things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Ratios, Direct

  William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.12, Harper Collins

  3 Copy quote

• If writing seems hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things people do.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, People, Perfection

  10 Copy quote

• Readers must be given room to bring their own emotions to a piece so crammed with emotional content; the writer must tenaciously resist explaining why the material is so moving.

  William Zinsser

  Moving, Emotional, Rooms

  3 Copy quote

• Nobody told all the new e-mail writers that the essence of writing is rewriting. Just because they are writing with ease and enjoyment doesn't mean they are writing well.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Mean, Essence

  4 Copy quote

• Writing organizes and clarifies our thoughts. Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us to find out what we know-and what we don't know-about whatever we're trying to learn.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Thinking, Trying

  6 Copy quote

• Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Jargon, Disease

  William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.6, Harper Collins

  31 Copy quote

• Writing is linear and sequential; Sentence B must follow Sentence A, and Sentence C must follow Sentence B, and eventually you get to Sentence Z. The hard part of writing isn't the writing; it's the thinking. You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: What does the reader need to know next?

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Thinking, Doe

  11 Copy quote

• Don’t say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be tired. Be confused. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don’t hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident.

  William Zinsser

  Confused, Writing, Tired

  16 Copy quote

• A clear sentence is no accident.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Clear, Sentences

  William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.9, Harper Collins

  11 Copy quote

• Keep your paragraphs short. Writing is visual - it catches the eye before it has a chance to catch the brain.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Eye, Brain

  6 Copy quote

• To defend what you've written is a sign that you are alive.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Marketing, Alive

  8 Copy quote

• The best way to learn to write is to study the work of the men and women who are doing the kind of writing you want to do.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Men, Want

  "On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction". Book by William Zinsser (Chapter 13 "Bits & Pieces," p. 136), 1976.

  6 Copy quote

• You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: what does the reader need to know next?

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Doe, Needs

  9 Copy quote

• My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, Simplicity, Humanity

  3 Copy quote

• If you write for yourself, you'll reach all the people you want to write for.

  William Zinsser

  Writing, People, Want

  "On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction". Book by William Zinsser (Chapter 12 "Writing About Yourself: The Memoir," p. 98), 1976.

  9 Copy quote

• Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Proceed with confidence, generating it, if necessary, by pure willpower. Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.

  William Zinsser

  Believe, Writing, Ego

  7 Copy quote

• If the nails are weak, your house will collapse. If your verbs are weak and your syntax is rickety, your sentences will fall apart.

  William Zinsser

  Fall, House, Nails

  William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.18, Harper Collins

  11 Copy quote

Page 1 of 6

← Prev

1

2

3

4

5

6

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin