Good writing is lean and confident.
Interpretation
Good writing should be clear and certain, avoiding unnecessary words.
William Zinsser emphasizes the importance of clarity and confidence in writing. Lean writing signifies the removal of superfluous words and phrases, making the main idea stand out, while confidence indicates the writer's assurance in their message, both of which are crucial for effective communication.
In practice
This quote can be used in a writing workshop to encourage participants to simplify their prose.
Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things that people do
Never hesitate to imitate another writer. Imitation is part of the creative process for anyone learning an art or a craft. Bach and Picasso didn't spring full-blown as Bach or Picasso; they needed models. This is especially true of writing.
My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity.
I have no interest in teaching writers how to sell. I want to teach them how to write. If the process is sound, the product will take care of itself, and sales are likely to follow.
Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident. . . . Every little qualifier whittles away some fraction of the reader's trust. Readers want a writer who believes in himself and in what he is saying. Don't diminish that belief. Don't be kind of bold. Be bold.
Noise is the typographical error and the poorly designed page...Ambiguity is noise. Redundancy is noise. Misuse of words is noise. Vagueness is noise. Jargon is noise.
The library, with its Daedalian labyrinth, mysterious hush, and faintly ominous aroma of knowledge, has been replaced by the computer's cheap glow, pesky chirp, and data spillage.
We await the successsive births in the soul of the child. We give all possible material, that nothing may lack to the groping soul, and then we watch for the perfect faculty to come, safeguarding the child from interruption so that it may carry its efforts through.
Wouldn't it be great if we could look forward to a whole world in which no child will be left behind?
The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives.
There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all.
There is nothing of any consequence in education, in the economy, in city planning, in social policy that does not concern black people.
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