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Avoid the ecstatic adjectives that occupy such disproportionate space in every critic's quiver - words like enthralling and luminous.

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
Words
Adjectives
Every
Ecstatic
Like
Luminous
Occupy
Critic
Avoid
Enthralling
Critics
Disproportionate
Space
Quiver

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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.
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Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill rode to glory on the back of the strong declarative sentence.
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Much of my writing has taken the form of a pilgrimage: to sacred places that represent the best of America, to musicians and other artists who represent the best of their art.
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If you write for yourself, you'll reach all the people you want to write for.
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Fighting clutter is like fighting weeds-the writer is always slightly behind.
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I think a sentence is a fine thing to put a preposition at the end of.
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Thought is action in rehearsal.
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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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Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly-about any subject at all.
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Don't try to guess what sort of thing editors want to publish or what you think the country is in a mood to read. Editors and readers don't know what they want to read until they read it. Besides, they're always looking for something new.
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Writing and learning and thinking are the same process.
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Clutter is the official language used by corporations to hide their mistakes.
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You'll never make your mark as a writer unless you develop a respect for words and a curiosity about their shades of meaning that is almost obsessive. The English language is rich in strong and supple words. Take the time to root around and find the ones you want
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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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Decide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it.
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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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Journalism is writing that first appears in any periodic journal.
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Clear thinking becomes clear writing one can't exist without the other.
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Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.
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No one has something original or important to say will willing we run the risk of being misunderstood people who write obscurely are either unskilled in writing or up to mischief
William Zinsser