William Strunk Jr. > Quotes

“Omit needless words.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style by William Strunk JR. & How to Speak and Write Correctly by Joseph Devlin - Special Edition

“Instead of announcing what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“Do not, therefore, say "I feel nauseous," unless you are sure you have that effect on others.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“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.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“Avoid fancy words....If you admire fancy words, if every sky is beauteous, every blonde curvaceous, every intelligent child prodigious, if you are tickled by discombobulate, you will have bad time Reminder 14.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“Never call a stomach a tummy without good reason.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style

“...when a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“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. ”
― William Strunk Jr.

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessay sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“Vigorous writing is concise.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“Remember, it is no sign of weakness or defeat that your manuscript ends up in need of major surgery. This is a common occurrence in all writing, and among the best writers.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“It's worse to irresolute than wrong.”
― William Strunk Jr.

“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”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements Of Style