Great Writing Quotes

Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don’t start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

~William Safire, “Great Rules of Writing”

Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.

~George Orwell, “Why I Write,” 1947

The best style is the style you don’t notice.

~Somerset Maugham

There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes.

~William Makepeace Thackeray

I want to write books that unlock the traffic jam in everybody’s head.

~John Updike

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