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

William Zinsser

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William Zinsser
Age: 92 †
Born: 1922
Born: October 7
Died: 2015
Died: May 12
Journalist
Literary Critic
Writer
New York City
New York
William Knowlton Zinsser
People
Person
Wells
Urge
Might
Urges
Firsts
Admit
Well
Ego
First
Almost
Writing
Write
Always
Persons

More quotes by William Zinsser

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The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.
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You learn to write by writing.
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Eloquence invites us to bring some part of ourselves to the transaction.
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Every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn't have before. Not two thoughts, or five - just one. So decide what single point you want to leave in the reader's mind.
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What I want to do is to make people laugh so that they'll see things seriously.
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All writers should strive to deliver something fresh-something editors or readers won't know they want until they see it.
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Motivation clears the head faster than a nasal spray.
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I think a sentence is a fine thing to put a preposition at the end of.
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Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading.
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Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Proceed with confidence, generating it, if necessary, by pure willpower. Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.
William Zinsser
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If writing seems hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things people do.
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To defend what you've written is a sign that you are alive.
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When you're ready to stop, stop. If you have presented all the facts and made the point you want to make, look for the nearest exit.
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Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it's where the game is won or lost. The idea is hard to accept. We all have emotional equity in our first draft we can't believe that it wasn't born perfect. But the odds are close to 100 percent that it wasn't.
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Good writers are visible just behind their words.
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A simple [writing] style is the result of very hard work.
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Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity.
William Zinsser
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Writing is no respecter of blueprints.
William Zinsser
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Thought is action in rehearsal.
William Zinsser
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Writing is not a special language that belongs to a few sensitive souls who have a 'gift for words'. Writing is the logical arrangement of thought. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly---about any subject at all.
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