William Zinsser People Quotations

No one has something original or important to say will willing we run the risk of being misunderstood; people who write obscurely are either unskilled in writing or up to mischief

People and places are the twin pillars on which most nonfiction is built. Every human event happens somewhere, and the reader wants to know what that somewhere was like.

Few people realize how badly they write. Nobody has shown them how much excess or murkiness has crept into their style.

A writer is obviously at his most natural and relaxed when he writes in the first person. Writing is a personal transaction between two people, conducted on paper, and the transaction will go well to the extent that it retains its humanity.

But nothing has replaced the writer. He or she is still stuck with the same old job of saying something that other people will want to read.

If writing seems hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things people do.

I almost always urge people to write in the first person. ... Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it.

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

People read with their ears, whether they know it or not,

If you write for yourself, you'll reach all the people you want to write for.