Top 15 William Zinsser Quotes

Write about small, self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory. If you remember them, it's because they contain a larger truth that your readers will recognize in their own lives. Think small and you'll wind up finding the big themes in your family saga.

Decide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it.

Don’t try to visualize the great mass audience. There is no such audience — every reader is a different person.

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.

Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it.

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

There are many good reasons for writing that have nothing to do with being published. Writing is a powerful search mechanism, and one of its satisfactions is to come to terms with your life narrative. Another is to work through some of life’s hardest knocks — loss, grief, illness, addiction, disappointment, failure — and to find understanding and solace.

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

Writing is thinking on paper

The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.

the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.

Less is more.

Don't be kind of bold. Be bold.

I almost always urge people to write in the first person. Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it.

Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy?