"I've never heard anybody smile."

William Zinsser Literature See all quotes by William Zinsser →

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“You must find some way to elevate your act of writing into entertainment.”

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

“Memoir is the art of inventing the truth.”

“Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there.”

“The writers job is like solving a puzzle, and finally arriving at a solution is a tremendous satisfaction.”

“All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem.”

Resonant Thoughts

"I will never, never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine. I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe never for the British. Britain for the British."

— Robert Mugabe

Politics1924–2019

"Atlantic reckoned we should use a top Yank producer and appointed one Eddie Kramer to the post. It turns out the guy was full of bullshit and couldn't produce a healthy fart."

— Bon Scott

Music1946–1980

#health

"I suggested before that the whole of economic history could be rewritten in terms of this gradual suppression of the primitive instincts by what we very mistakenly call “artificial” rules. Of course,…"

— Friedrich Hayek

Philosophy1899–1992

#wisdom

"Humour very often consists of shrewd perceptions about people. It's usually fun at someone's expense. Nowadays if you're funny at anybody's expense they run to the UN and say, "I must have an ombudsma…"

— Robertson Davies

Literature1913–1995

#friendship