Quote

There's no sentence that's too short in the eyes of God.

William Zinsser

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Sentence
Sentences
Short
Eyes
Eye
Inspirational

More quotes by William Zinsser

Image
Scholarship hath no fury like that of a language purist faced with sludge.
William Zinsser
Image
Memoir is the art of inventing the truth.
William Zinsser
Image
If a good word already exists, there is no need to invent something painful.
William Zinsser
Image
Thought is action in rehearsal.
William Zinsser
Image
Never say anything in writing that you wouldn't comfortably say in conversation. Be yourself when you write. If you're not a person who says 'indeed' or 'moreover,' or who calls someone an individual ('he's a fine individual'), please don't write it.
William Zinsser
Image
Writing is hard work.
William Zinsser
Image
My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity.
William Zinsser
Image
Clutter is the disease of American writing.
William Zinsser
Image
Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.
William Zinsser
Image
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.
William Zinsser
Image
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.
William Zinsser
Image
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.
William Zinsser
Image
The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.
William Zinsser
Image
But nothing has replaced the writer. He or she is still stuck with the same old job of saying something that other people will want to read.
William Zinsser
Image
Not everybody has a talent for painting, or for the piano, or for dance. But we can write our way into the artist's head and into his problems and solutions. Or we can go there with another writer.
William Zinsser
Image
Good writing is lean and confident.
William Zinsser
Image
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
Image
Don't be kind of bold. Be bold.
William Zinsser
Image
Writing is thinking on paper.
William Zinsser
Image
A simple [writing] style is the result of very hard work.
William Zinsser