Henry Watson Fowler Quotes

We tell our thoughts, like our children, to put on their hats and coats before they go out.

It need hardly be said that shortness is a merit in words.

The purpose of paragraphing is to give the reader a rest. The writer is saying ... : Have you got that? If so, I'll go to the next point.

Any one who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.

The obvious is better than obvious avoidance of it.

Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched. Prefer the concrete word to the abstract. Prefer the single word to the circumlocution. Prefer the short word to the long. Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance.

Pretentious quotations [are] the surest road to tedium.

Anyone who finds himself putting down several commas close to one another should reflect that he is making himself disagreeable.