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Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill rode to glory on the back of the strong declarative sentence.

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
Strong
Winston
Back
Rode
Churchill
Abraham
Lincoln
Sentence
Sentences
Glory
Declarative

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Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.
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Writers are the custodians of memory, and that's what this chapter is about: how to leave some kind of record of your life and of the family you were born into.
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Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds-the writer is always slightly behind.
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Don't be kind of bold. Be bold.
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The writer who cares about usage must always know the quick from the dead.
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I have no interest in teaching writers how to sell. I want to teach them how to write. If the process is sound, the product will take care of itself, and sales are likely to follow.
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Never hesitate to imitate another writer - every person learning a craft or an art needs models. Eventually you'll find your own voice and will shed the skin of the writer you imitated.
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Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading.
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If the nails are weak, your house will collapse. If your verbs are weak and your syntax is rickety, your sentences will fall apart.
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Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is.
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Writing organizes and clarifies our thoughts. Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us to find out what we know-and what we don't know-about whatever we're trying to learn.
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There's no subject you don't have permission to write about. Students often avoid subjects close to their heart ... because they assume that their teachers will regard those topics as 'stupid.' No area of life is stupid to someone who takes it seriously. If you follow your affections you will write well and will engage your readers.
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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.
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Memoir isn't the summary of a life it's a window into a life, very much like a photograph in its selective composition. It may look like a casual and even random calling up of bygone events. It's not it's a deliberate construction.
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A clear sentence is no accident.
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Memoir is the art of inventing the truth.
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Don’t say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be tired. Be confused. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don’t hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident.
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Writing wasn't easy and wasn't fun. It was hard and lonely, and the words seldom just flowed.
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Editors are licensed to be curious.
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Clear thinking becomes clear writing one can't exist without the other.
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