31 Quotes by William Strunk, Jr.

A drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

The adjective hasn't been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place,

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

A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses.

In exposition and in argument, the writer must likewise never lose his hold upon the concrete; and even when he is dealing with general principles, he must furnish particular instances of their application.

In his Philosophy of Style, Herbert Spencer gives two sentences to illustrate how the vague and general can be turned into the vivid and particular: In proportion as the manners, customs, and amusements of a nation are cruel and barbarous, the regulations of its penal code will be severe. In proportion as men delight in battles, bullfights, and combats of gladiators, will they punish by hanging, burning, and the rack.

Every writer, by the way he uses the language, reveals something of his spirit, his habits, his capacities, his bias....Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy, and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able.

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

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.