William Strunk Jr. Quotes

To acquire style, begin by affecting none.

Opinions scattered indiscriminately about leave the mark of egotism.

Your whole duty as a writer is to please and satisfy yourself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one.

Rewrite and revise. Do not be afraid to seize what you have and cut it to ribbons ... Good writing means good revising.

1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's.

2. As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence; end it in conformity with the beginning.

In exposition and in argument, the writer must likewise never lose his hold upon the concrete; and even when he is dealing with general principles, he must furnish particular instances of their application.

It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however, the reader will usually find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the cost of the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will probably do best to follow the rules. After he has learned, by their guidance, to write plain English adequate for everyday uses, let him look, for the secrets of style, to the study of the masters of literature.

Prestigious.

Another segment of society that has constructed a language of its own is business. People in business say that toner cartridges are in short supply, that they have updated the next shipment of these cartridges, and that they will finalize their recommendations at the next meeting of the board. They are speaking a language familiar and dear to them. Its portentous nouns and verbs invest ordinary events with high adventure; executives walk among toner cartridges, caparisoned like knights. We should tolerate them
every person of spirit wants to ride a white horse.

It is worse to be irresolute than to be wrong.

A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

The heel of Achilles

This book is intended for use in English courses in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature. It aims to give in a brief space the principal requirements of plain English style. It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention (in Chapters II and III) on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. The numbers of the sections may be used as references in correcting manuscript.

Never call a stomach a tummy without good reason.

As the American poet, Marianne Moore, said: There is a great deal of poetry in unconscious fastidiousness.

Omit needless words.

Rather, very, little, pretty
these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. The constant use of the adjective little (except to indicate size) is particularly debilitating; we should all try to do a little better, we should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one, and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then.

Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.

The writer who has a definite meaning to express will not take refuge in such vagueness.

Nothing becomes funny by being labelled so.

Nice. A shaggy, all-purpose word to be used sparingly in formal composition

If every word or device that achieved currency were immediately authenticated, simply on the grounds of popularity, the language would be as chaotic as a ball game with no foul lines

This rule is difficult to apply; it is frequently hard to decide whether a single word, such as however, or a brief phrase, is or is not parenthetic. If the interruption to the flow of the sentence is but slight, the writer may safely omit the commas. But whether the interruption be slight or considerable, he must never omit one comma and leave the other. Such punctuation as

Instead of announcing what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so.

If you have received a letter inviting you to speak at the dedication of a new cat hospital, and you hate cats, your reply, declining the invitation, does not necessarily have to cover the full range of your emotions. You must make it clear that you will not attend, but you do not have to let fly at the cats. The writer of the letter asked a civil question; attack cats, then, only if you can do so with good humor, good taste, and in such a way that your answer will be courteous as well as responsive. Since you are out of sympathy with cats, you may quite properly give this as a reason for not appearing at the dedicatory ceremonies of a cat hospital. But bear in mind that your opinion of cats was not sought, only your services as a speaker. Try to keep things straight.

If you use a colloquialism or a slang word or phrase, simply use it; do not draw attention to it by enclosing it in quotation marks. To do so is to put on airs, as though you were inviting the reader to join you in a select society of those who know better.

The situation is perilous, but there is still one chance of escape.

If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud!

Writers will often find themselves steering by stars that are disturbingly in motion.

Quotations introduced by that are regarded as in indirect discourse and not enclosed in quotation marks.

Negative words other than not are usually strong:

Prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract.

In his Philosophy of Style, Herbert Spencer gives two sentences to illustrate how the vague and general can be turned into the vivid and particular: In proportion as the manners, customs, and amusements of a nation are cruel and barbarous, the regulations of its penal code will be severe. In proportion as men delight in battles, bullfights, and combats of gladiators, will they punish by hanging, burning, and the rack.

The language is perpetually in flux: it is a living stream, shifting, changing, receiving new strength from a thousand tributaries, losing old forms in the backwaters of time.

conscience' sake

Do not, therefore, say "I feel nauseous," unless you are sure you have that effect on others.

The surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definitive, and concrete. The greatest writers - Homer, Dante, Shakespeare - are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter. Their words call up pictures.

To air one's views gratuitously, is to imply that the demand for them is brisk.

Consciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfied with being told only what is not; the reader wishes to be told what is ... If your every sentence admits a doubt, your writing will lack authority.

The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.

In his New Yorker column of July 27, 1957, E. B. White praised the "little book" as a "forty-three-page summation of the case for cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English.

Every writer, by the way he uses the language, reveals something of his spirit, his habits, his capacities, his bias ... Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy, and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able.

Young writers often suppose that style is a garnish for the meat of prose, a sauce by which a dull dish is made palatable. Style has no such entity; it is nondetachable, unfilterable.

1. Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic.