Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what has been written before.If you lose the dullards back in the dust, that's where they belong.Good writers are visible just behind their words.A writer will do anything to avoid the act of writing.Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe.Nobody becomes Tom Wolfe overnight, not even Tom Wolfe. Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there.It's one of the hardest things that people do. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it's not a question of gimmicks to 'personalize' the author.This is a book by a writer who does some teaching, not a book by a teacher who does some writing, and one of the satisfactions of the craft is that there's always something new to learn.If you can think clearly, or if you can talk to someone about the things you know and care about, you can write - with confidence and enjoyment. Writing is thinking on paper, or talking to someone on paper.Quotes On Writing Well (Fifth Edition, orig. He began his career as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune, where he worked as a feature writer, drama editor, film critic, and editorial writer, and has been a longtime contributor to leading magazines.

William Knowlton Zinsser (born Octo– ) was an American writer, editor, literary critic, and teacher. Good writers are visible just behind their words.

Zinsser william on writing well