Writing to Win Quotes

“3. Be careful of Web research. Be wary of what you find on the Web. After all, it was Abraham Lincoln who said, “The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you never know if they were genuine.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“The only two groups left who tell stories chronologically—at least in American culture—are lawyers and six-year-olds.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“Relate your facts compellingly and your argument will tend to take care of itself.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“Writing is a labor-intensive task.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“the sentence in an appellate brief that read, “In the index to this brief, the Court will find an extensive copulation of authorities on the subject.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“Alex Madrigal of The Atlantic has reported that fifteen of the top twenty retailers in the Fortune 500 use Helvetica,”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“Security is like liberty in that many are the crimes committed in its name.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“The more you turn up the heat rhetorically, the more you weaken your arguments.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“The word of the age is “multitasking”—shorthand for the idea that I’m paying attention to very little while giving the impression that I’m intently following five things.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“Numerous studies have shown that online—and especially on smart phones—people no longer read linearly as they once did, nor do they read with nearly the same engagement.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“if you’re writing a memo or e-mail and begin a middle paragraph, “Most important …” you’ve written a bad memo or e-mail.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“First impressions leave the strongest impressions.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer

“The more highly educated and the older you are, the more you’ve been trained to write linearly—from beginning to middle to end. By and large, however, people don’t read that way anymore—at least on computers and at least in the legal-business world. In those worlds, the core of effective communication and argument, at least initially, is simplification. Unless readers know right up front where you’re heading and why, it’s very difficult for them to follow what you’re saying, much less be convinced by it.”
― Steven D. Stark, Writing to Win: The Legal Writer