Quotessence
Home / Authors / William Zinsser
William Zinsser

William Zinsser Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllWritingIfsReaderWantSentencesThinkingPeopleWrittenKnowsTryingWriteWriterWriting WellHardOn WritingWritesArtOn Writing WellReadingSubjects

Famous William Zinsser Quotes

“Learn to enjoy this tidying process. I don't 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 I'm 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.”

WritingWrittenWriterEditingWriteOn WritingEditWroteEditorOn Writing WellThe Writing ProcessThe Editing Process
Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Create image

“Beware, then, of the long word that's 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. Don't dialogue with someone you can talk to. Don't interface with anybody.”

WritingWriterWriteWriting AdviceWrites
Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Create image

“Don't annoy your readers by over-explaining--by telling them something they already know or can figure out. Try not to use words like "surprisingly," "predictably" and "of course," which put a value on a fact before the reader encounters the fact. Trust your material.”

WritingWrittenWriterWritersWriteOn WritingWritesThe Writing LifeOn Writing Well
Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Create image

“There are some writers who sweep us along so strongly in their current of energy--Normal mailer, Tom Wolfe, Toni Morrison, William F. Buckley, Jr., Hunter Thompson, David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers--that we assume that when they go to work the words just flow. Nobody thinks of the effort they made every morning to turn on the switch. You also have to turn on the switch. Nobody is going to do it for you.”

WritingMotivationWrittenWriterWritersWriteWriting AdviceWriters LifeOn WritingWritesWroteOn Writing Well
Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Create image

“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 York's 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.”

WritingWriterWriteWriting AdviceOn WritingWritesOn Writing Well
Book:On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Create image