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Quote by William Strunk Jr.

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the elements of style

Written by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, this book provides clear and concise advice on the essentials of effective writing in English. It covers topics such as sentence structure, word choice, and the proper use of punctuation marks. more

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William Strunk Jr.

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“The use of language begins with imitation. The infant imitates the sounds made by its parents; the child imitates first the spoken language, then the stuff of books. The imitative life continues long after the writer is secure in the language, for it is almost impossible to avoid imitating what one admires. Never imitate consciously, but do not worry about being an imitator; take pains instead to admire what is good. Then when you write in a way that comes naturally, you will echo the halloos that bear repeating.”

Writing TipsE B WhiteStrunk WhiteElements Of Style
Author:E. B. White
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“Your scorn for mediocrity blinds you to its vast primitive power. You stand in the glare of your own brilliance, unable to see into the dim corners of the room, to dilate your eyes and see the potential dangers of the mass, the wad of humanity. Even as I tell you this, dear student, you cannot quite believe that lesser men, in whatever numbers, can really defeat you. But we are in the age of the mediocre man. He is dull, colorless, boring — but inevitably victorious. The amoeba outlives the tiger because it divides and continues in its immortal monotony. The masses are the final tyrants. See how, in the arts, Kabuki wanes and withers while popular novels of violence and mindless action swamp the mind of the mass reader. And even in that timid genre, no author dares to produce a genuinely superior man as his hero, for in his rage of shame the mass man will send his yojimbo, the critic, to defend him. The roar of the plodders is inarticulate, but deafening. They have no brain, but they have a thousand arms to grasp and clutch at you, drag you down.”

HumanityMassesInarticulateShibumiWad
Book:Shibumi
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“I have not been much in the Romagna, but what little I have seen of the people has given me the impression that they have got, or are getting, into a mechanical habit of violence." "Surely even that is better than a mechanical habit of obedience and submission.” “I don’t think so. All mechanical habits are bad and slavish, and this one is ferocious as well.”

The GadflyRevolutionary MovementSlavishnessMechanical HabbitsRevoulutionary
Author:E L Voynich
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“While Jonathan lay on his deathbed in his parents' house, his bluish red rope burns and strangulation bruises covered with a fresh garland of carnations, purple and aromatic, from the garden, and his corpse had turned wax-yellow and his fingernails blue, his mother, in a black dress, kept vigil through the night, near the two candles that lit up his face to the left and right of the sofa, never once closing her eyes.”

FlowersBruisesCorpseVigil
Book:When the Time Comes
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