Echoes

Although there is no substitute for merit in writing, clarity comes closest to being one.

Whoever gives reverence receives reverence.

I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn't like.

Your whole duty as a writer is to please and satisfy yourself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one. Start sniffing the air, or glancing at the Trend Machine, and you are as good as dead, although you may make a nice living.

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.

If the public thought elevates you above the generality of men, let the other humble you, and hold you in a perfect equality with all mankind, for this is your natural condition.

Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, non-committal language. Use the word not as a means of denial or in antithesis, never as a means of evasion.

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

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

He who does not trust enough will not be trusted.

Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready.

It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself.

If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.

I would prefer inarticulate wisdom to loquacious foolishness.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few.

When you are content to be simply yourself, everybody will respect you.

If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.

I have always been fond of the West African proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."

No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

If thou desire to profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faithfulness; nor even desire the repute of learning.

The surest way to arouse and hold the reader's attention is by being specific, definite, 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.

Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.

Students, when you want to say something, think about it three times before you say it. Speak only if your words will benefit yourselves and others. Do not speak if it brings no benefit.