25 Quotes by William Strunk Jr.

None are so fallible as those who are sure they’re right.

It is worse to be irresolute than to be wrong.

Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.

To air one’s views gratuitously, is to imply that the demand for them is brisk.

The surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definitive, and concrete. The greatest writers – Homer, Dante, Shakespeare – are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter. Their words call up pictures.

To acquire style, begin by affecting none.

Instead of announcing what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so.

The approach to style is by way of plainness, simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.

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.