William Zinsser Quotes about Reading

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Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading.

Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading.

William Zinsser

Reading, Writing, Easy

Writing is learned by imitation. If anyone asked me how I learned to write, I'd say I learned by reading the men and women who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and trying to figure out how they did it.

William Zinsser

Reading, Writing, Men

William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.34, Harper Collins

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

Reading, Eye, Mind

William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.35, Harper Collins

Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what has been written before. Writing is learned by imitation.

William Zinsser

Reading, Writing, Today

Nobody ever stopped reading E. B. White or V. S. Pritchett because the writing was too good.

William Zinsser

Reading, Writing, White

"On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction". Book by William Zinsser (Chapter 13 "Bits & Pieces," p. 130), 1976.

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.

William Zinsser

Reading, Writing, Next

William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.5, Harper Collins

I try to make what I have written tighter, stronger and more precise, eliminating every element that's not doing useful work. Then I go over it once more, reading it aloud, and am always amazed at how much clutter can still be cut.

William Zinsser

Reading, Cutting, Trying

William Zinsser (2012). “On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction”, p.11, Harper Collins