Henry Watson Fowler Inspirational Quotes (6)

The writer's Queen Victoria is his public, and he would do well to keep a bust of the old Queen on his desk with the legend We are not amused hanging from it.

The purpose of paragraphing is to give the reader a rest. The writer is saying . . . : Have you got that? If so, I'll go to the next point.

Those who are addicted to the phrase to use a vulgarism expect to achieve the feat of being at once vulgar and superior to vulgarity.

Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched. Prefer the concrete word to the abstract. Prefer the single word to the circumlocution. Prefer the short word to the long. Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance.

Those who run to long words are mainly the unskillful and tasteless they confuse pomposity with dignity, flaccidity with ease, and bulk with force.

Be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.