William Zinsser
William Zinsser
William Knowlton Zinsserwas an American writer, editor, literary critic, and teacher. He began his career as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune, where he worked as a feature writer, drama editor, film critic and editorial writer. He was a longtime contributor to leading magazines...
William Zinsser quotes about
writing
A writer will do anything to avoid the act of writing.
writing numbers way
The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.
be-kind kind
Don't be kind of bold. Be bold.
jobs old-job people
But nothing has replaced the writer. He or she is still stuck with the same old job of saying something that other people will want to read.
soon-enough enough periods
There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough.
thinking fine-things ends
I think a sentence is a fine thing to put a preposition at the end of.
principles crafts never-forget
Never forget that you are practicing a craft with certain principles.
people want pillars
People and places are the twin pillars on which most nonfiction is built. Every human event happens somewhere, and the reader wants to know what that somewhere was like.
space adjectives quiver
Avoid the ecstatic adjectives that occupy such disproportionate space in every critic's quiver - words like "enthralling" and "luminous."
mom dog apples
Although the frankfurter originated in Frankfurt, Germany, we have long since made it our own, a twin pillar of democracy along with Mom's apple pie. In fact, now that Mom's apple pie comes frozen and baked by somebody who isn't Mom, the hot dog stands alone. What it symbolizes remains pure, even if what it contains does not.
writing firsts journalism
Journalism is writing that first appears in any periodic journal.
running writing people
No one has something original or important to say will willing we run the risk of being misunderstood; people who write obscurely are either unskilled in writing or up to mischief
editors curious
Editors are licensed to be curious.
interesting humanity ordinary
Probably every subject is interesting if an avenue into it can be found that has humanity and that an ordinary person can follow.