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

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
Meaningless
Constructions
Disease
Strangling
Society
Circular
American
Jargon
Words
Pompous
Writing
Clutter
Unnecessary
Construction
Frills

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A writer is obviously at his most natural and relaxed when he writes in the first person. Writing is a personal transaction between two people, conducted on paper, and the transaction will go well to the extent that it retains its humanity.
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Scholarship hath no fury like that of a language purist faced with sludge.
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Never forget that you are practicing a craft with certain principles.
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The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn't induce him to continue to the third sentence, it's equally dead.
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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. It's one of the hardest things that people do
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The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.
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It's a fitting irony that under Richard Nixon launder became a dirty word.
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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.
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Few people realize how badly they write. Nobody has shown them how much excess or murkiness has crept into their style.
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There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough.
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There are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps you to say what you want to say is the right method for you.
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