William Zinsser Quotes

86 Sourced Quotes

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
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.

William Zinsser
If you lose the dullards back in the dust, that's where they belong. You don't want them anyway.

William Zinsser
The Period. There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough.

William Zinsser
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

William Zinsser
My roster of the new literature, in short, would include all the writers who come bearing new information and who present it with vigor, clarity and humanity.

William Zinsser
Also bear in mind, when you're choosing your words and stringing them together, how they sound. This may seem absurd: readers read with their eyes. But in fact they hear what they are reading far more than you realize.

William Zinsser
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.

William Zinsser
Many writers are paralyzed by the thought that they are competing with everybody else who is trying to write and presumably doing it better.... Forget the competition and go at your own pace. Your only contest is with yourself.

William Zinsser
Scholarship hath no fury like that of a language purist faced with sludge.

William Zinsser
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.

William Zinsser