William Zinsser Quotes

Writing is a craft not an art.

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

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

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

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

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

There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough.

Editors are licensed to be curious.

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

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