"Probably the finest travel book ever written by an American is Walden, though Thoreau only went a mile out of town."

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

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Military1809–1868

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"And so it went until the alarm was struck in the famous Missouri debate. Then wise men remembered what Washington had said, 'Resist with care the spirit of innovation upon the principles of the Consti…"

— George William Curtis

Social Activism1824–1892

#freedom

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— Calvin Coolidge

Politics1780–1853

#time

"A man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above him. A man when he gets into a higher sphere, into other habits of life, cannot keep up all his former connections. T…"

— Samuel Johnson

Literature1709–1784

#life