William Zinsser
"Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy? Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging on to something useless just because you think it's beautiful?... Simplify, simplify."
16 Quotes
"Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy? Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging on to something useless just because you think it's beautiful?... Simplify, simplify."
"فتّش عن الحشو في كتاباتك واقتلعْه بلا هوادة. كن ممتنًا لكل ما تستطيع التخلص منه. أعدْ النظر في كل جملة تدونها: هل تؤدي كل كلمة فيها عملًا جديدًا؟ هل يمكن التعبير عن أي فكرة باقتصاد أكبر؟ هل فيها شيء من التباهي أو الادعاء أو الموضة الزائلة؟ هل تتمسك بشيء لا فائدة منه لمجرد ظنك أنه جميل؟... بسّط، بسّط."
William Zinsser
"Was the whole matter of aptitudes a myth – a copout used by people like me to avoid subjects that would force us to think in Therefore threatening ways?"
"أكان أمر الاستعدادات برمته مجرد خرافة – ذريعة يتعلل بها أمثالي لتجنب المواد التي كانت ستجبرنا على التفكير بطرق تهدد كياننا؟"
William Zinsser
"Editors are licensed to be curious."
"المحررون مرخص لهم بالفضول."
William Zinsser
"I never think of him as a scholar assaulting me with how much he knows, but as a teacher eager to share a lifelong passion for the subject."
"لا أراه قط عالمًا يهاجمني بكمّ ما يعلم، بل معلمًا يتوق لمشاركة شغف عمره بمادته."
William Zinsser
"It's no fun to think about infinity and no cinche to write about it. Again, it helps to look for some human link."
"التفكير في اللانهاية ليس ممتعًا، والكتابة عنها ليست بالأمر الهين. ومرة أخرى، يساعدنا البحث عن رابط إنساني."
William Zinsser
"One of underestimated tasks in nonfiction writing is to impose narrative shape on an unwieldy mass of material."
"من المهام التي يستهان بها في الكتابة غير الخيالية فرض شكل سردي على كم هائل من المواد التي يصعب التحكم فيها."
William Zinsser
"Probably every subject is interesting if an avenue into it can be found that has humanity and that an ordinary person can follow."
"لعل كل موضوع شيق إذا ما وُجد سبيل إليه يحمل في طياته روح الإنسانية، ويستطيع أن يسلكه المرء العادي."
William Zinsser
"Writing can be taught or learned in the vacuum. We must say to students in every area of knowledge: "This is a how other people have written about this subject. Read it; study it; think about it. You can do it too."
"التأليف لا يُدرَّس أو يُتعلَّم في فراغ. يجب أن نقول للطلاب في كل مجال من مجالات المعرفة: "هكذا كتب الآخرون عن هذا الموضوع. اقرأوه؛ ادرسوه؛ فكروا فيه. يمكنكم أن تفعلوا ذلك أيضًا."
William Zinsser
"If a philosophical writer cannot be followed, the difficulty of his subject can be placed only in mitigation of his offense, not in condonation of it. There are too many expert witnesses on the other side."
William Zinsser
"Writers who think THEY are being criticized when only that writing is being criticized are beyond a teacher's reach. Writing can only be learned when a writer coldly separates himself from what he has written and looks at it with the objectivity of a plumber examining a newly piped bathroom to see if he got all the joints tight."
William Zinsser
"Even a poor translator couldn't kill a style that moves with such narrative clarity."
William Zinsser
"Mind in language are inseparable. If we violate our language we violate ourselves."
William Zinsser
"Not everybody has a talent for painting, or for the piano, or for dance. But we can write our way into the artist's head and into his problems and solutions. Or we can go there with another writer."
William Zinsser
"Vulnerability has a strength of its own."
William Zinsser
"I almost always urge people to write in the first person. Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it."
William Zinsser
"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."
William Zinsser
✉️
Get more quotes like William Zinsser's — every morning.
Join thousands of wisdom seekers getting daily quotes from 300,000+ curated sources.
Free forever. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
🎉 Check your inbox to confirm your subscription!