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A drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
William Strunk, Jr.
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William Strunk, Jr.
Age: 77 †
Born: 1869
Born: July 1
Died: 1946
Died: September 26
Professor
Writer
Cincinnati
Ohio
Parts
Concise
Lines
Brevity
Writing
Paragraph
Vigorous
Unnecessary
Machine
Drawing
Machines
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Never call a stomach a tummy without good reason.
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The surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definitive, and concrete. The greatest writers - Homer, Dante, Shakespeare - are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter. Their words call up pictures.
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It is worse to be irresolute than to be wrong.
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...when a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor.
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The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.
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Every writer, by the way he uses the language, reveals something of his spirit, his habits, his capacities, his bias....Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy, and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able.
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A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses.
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Remember, it is no sign of weakness or defeat that your manuscript ends up in need of major surgery. This is a common occurrence in all writing, and among the best writers.
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Vigorous writing is concise.
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Instead of announcing what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so.
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Rewrite and revise. Do not be afraid to seize what you have and cut it to ribbons ... Good writing means good revising.
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To air one's views gratuitously, is to imply that the demand for them is brisk.
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Opinions scattered indiscriminately about leave the mark of egotism.
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None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right.
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To acquire style, begin by affecting none.
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If you use a colloquialism or a slang word or phrase, simply use it do not draw attention to it by enclosing it in quotation marks. To do so is to put on airs, as though you were inviting the reader to join you in a select society of those who know better.
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The situation is perilous, but there is still one chance of escape.
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In exposition and in argument, the writer must likewise never lose his hold upon the concrete and even when he is dealing with general principles, he must furnish particular instances of their application.
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Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.
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Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language.
William Strunk, Jr.
