James Van Allen Quotes

I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say.

Writing distills, crystallizes, and clarifies thought.

If I can write everything out plainly, perhaps I will myself understand better what has happened.

You've got to guard against speaking more clearly than you think.

... writing had become an essential element of the process of thinking. Not until I had put my thoughts down on paper could I examine them with objectivity.

You can't fix a problem if you don't have the words to describe it. You can't even think about it clearly.

I find it easier to tell someone what's in my head once it's on paper, rather than write with someone in mind.

I'm a fan of writing, and writing letters, because I hate when I'm trying to get a thought out, and I can't.

I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker. It has always been hard for me to say exactly what I mean in speech But if I have written a clumsiness, I may erase it.

I write to find what I have to say. I edit to figure out how to say it right.

There is nothing like writing to force you to think and get your thoughts straight.

Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard.

Words, like glasses, obscure everything they do not make clear. Before using a fine word, make a place for it.

Good writing ... involves the agony of turning profoundly difficult thoughts into lucid form, then forcing them into the tight-fitting uniform of language, making them visible and clear.

A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.

The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say.

Most thinkers write badly, because they communicate not only their thoughts, but also the thinking of them.

My secret for writing is going back to clarity. I'm very clear about what I want to accomplish-the goal-and then the next two are focus and concentration. And I've probably spent my whole life both practicing those two and teaching them. Focus. Focus on a single point and concentration. And concentrating on a single thing till it's done.

you don't know what you think unless you say it.

When we write we begin to taste the texture of our own mind

I see but one rule: to be clear. If I am not clear, all my world crumbles to nothing.

Clarity in language depends on clarity in thought.

If writing has taught me anything, it's that you don't actually understand anything until you can express it in words.

It is extremely natural for us to desire to see such our thoughts put into the dress of words, without which indeed we can scarce have a clear and distinct idea of them our selves.

Good writing is the hardest form of thinking. It involves the agony of turning profoundly difficult thoughts into lucid form, then forcing them into the tight-fitting uniform of language, making them visible and clear. If the writing is good, then the result seems effortless and inevitable. But when you want to say something life-changing or ineffable in a single sentence, you face both the limitations of the sentence itself and the extent of your own talent.