The Elements of Style Quotes

“Compare. To compare to is to point out or imply resemblances, between objects regarded as essentially of different order; to compare with is mainly to point out differences, between objects regarded as essentially of the same order. Thus life has been compared to a pilgrimage, to a drama, to a battle; Congress may be compared with the British Parliament. Paris has been compared to ancient Athens; it may be compared with modern London.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“As good or better. Expressions of this type should be corrected by rearranging the sentence. My opinion is as good or better than his. My opinion is as good as his, or better (if not better).”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“The principle that the proper place for what is to be made most prominent is the end applies equally to the words of a sentence, to the sentences of a paragraph, and to the paragraphs of a composition.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“Humanity, since that time, has advanced in many other ways, but it has hardly advanced in fortitude.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“The proper place for the word, or group of words, which the writer desires to make most prominent is usually the end of the sentence.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“He may find it necessary to devote one or two sentences to indicating the subject, or the opening situation, of the work he is discussing; he may cite numerous details to illustrate its qualities. But he should aim to write an orderly discussion supported by evidence, not a summary with occasional comment. Similarly, if the scope of his discussion includes a number of works, he will as a rule do better not to take them up singly in chronological order, but to aim from the beginning at establishing general conclusions.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“By this principle, an article or a preposition applying to all the members of a series must either be used only before the first term or else be repeated before each term.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“This principle, that of parallel construction, requires that expressions of similar content and function should be outwardly similar. The likeness of form enables the reader to recognize more readily the likeness of content and function. Familiar instances from the Bible are the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the petitions of the Lord's Prayer.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“If the writer finds that he has written a series of sentences of the type described, he should recast enough of them to remove the monotony, replacing them by simple sentences, by sentences of two clauses joined by a semicolon, by periodic sentences of two clauses, by sentences, loose or periodic, of three clauses—whichever best represent the real relations of the thought.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“did not pay any attention to, ignored did not have much confidence in, distrusted”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“not honest, dishonest not important, trifling did not remember, forgot”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“All three examples show the weakness inherent in the word not. Consciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfied with being told only what is not; he wishes to be told what is. Hence, as a rule, it is better to express a negative in positive form.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“A common fault is to use as the subject of a passive construction a noun which expresses the entire action, leaving to the verb no function beyond that of completing the sentence.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“But this device, if too often used, would become a mannerism. More commonly the opening sentence simply indicates by its subject with what the paragraph is to be principally concerned.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“which is the gist of all that can be said upon the matter.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“The meaning made clearer by denial of the contrary.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“A walking tour should be gone upon alone, because freedom is of the essence; because you should be able to stop and go on, and follow this way or that, as the freak takes you; and because you must have your own pace, and neither trot alongside a champion walker, nor mince in time with a girl.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“Ending with a digression, or with an unimportant detail, is particularly to be avoided. If the paragraph forms part of a larger composition, its relation to what precedes, or its function as a part of the whole, may need to be expressed. This can sometimes be done by a mere word or phrase (again; therefore; for the same reason) in the topic sentence. Sometimes, however, it is expedient to precede the topic sentence by one or more sentences of introduction or transition. If more than one such sentence is required, it is generally better to set apart the transitional sentences as a separate paragraph.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“The best way to see a country, unless you are pressed for time, is to travel on foot.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

“paper. All writers, by the way they use the language, reveal something of their spirits, their habits, their capacities, and their biases.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style

“But,” you may ask, “what if it comes natural to me to experiment rather than conform? What if I am a pioneer, or even a genius?” Answer: then be one. But do not forget that what may seem like pioneering may be merely evasion, or laziness—the disinclination to submit to discipline. Writing good standard English is no cinch, and before you have managed it you will have encountered enough rough country to satisfy even the most adventurous spirit.”
― Jr., William Strunk, The Elements of Style

“Note that if the second clause is preceded by an adverb, such as accordingly, besides, then, therefore, or thus, and not by a conjunction, the semicolon is still required.”
― Jr., William Strunk, The Elements of Style

“If two or more clauses grammatically complete and not joined by a conjunction are to form a single compound sentence, the proper mark of punctuation is a semicolon.”
― Jr., William Strunk, The Elements of Style

“are pressed for”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style

“Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write,
Charles's friend
Burns's poems
the witch's malice Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names ending in -es and -is, the possessive Jesus', and such forms as for conscience' sake, for righteousness' sake.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style

“What was poetical and sensuous has become prosy and wooden; instead of the secret sounds of beauty, we are left with the simple crunch of mastication.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style

“Violence - the kind you see on television - is not honestly violent, there lies its harm.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style

“Quotations introduced by that are regarded as in indirect discourse and not enclosed in quotation marks.”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style

“Chapter 3 Elementary Principles of Composition”
― E. B. White, The Elements of Style

“Nice. A shaggy, all-purpose word to be used sparingly in formal composition”
― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style