Marilynne Robinson Quotes

Like with anything, good writing suggest itself pretty strongly.

The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. Because I have the greatest respect for the reader, and if he's going to the trouble of reading what I've written -- I'm a slow reader myself and I guess most people are -- why, the least I can do is make it as easy as possible for him to find out what I'm trying to say, trying to get at. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.

Anything works, as long as you write it properly.

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

I think what's really hard is making sense and making what you write clear and smooth-flowing.

Good sense is both the first principal and the parent source of good writing.

The secret of good writing is to say an old thing in a new way or to say a new thing in an old way.

You just can't make bad writing look good. But if you have good writing, you just say it, and it's almost done.

An author arrives at a good style when his language performs what is required of it without shyness.

To write well it is first necessary to have something to say.

Easy writing makes hard reading.

People who think well, write well

I wish my prose to be transparent—I don't want the reader to stumble over me; I want him to look through what I'm saying to what I'm describing. I don't want him ever to say, Oh, goodness, how nicely written this is. That would be a failure.

Whatever I'm doing, I try to write well. I try to give the reader a nice, clean well-written surface, where the writing is transparent. It probably takes me longer to write things, but it's very important to me that the writing itself be good.

Of writing well the source and fountainhead is wise thinking.

It is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all that he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his readers is sure to skip them.

I tell my students that when you write, you should pretend you’re writing the best letter you ever wrote to the smartest friend you have. That way, you’ll never dumb things down. You won’t have to explain things that don’t need explaining. You’ll assume an intimacy and a natural shorthand, which is good because readers are smart and don’t wish to be condescended to.

I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing — to be clear.

No blur of inexactness, no cloud of vagueness, is allowable in good writing; from the first seeing to the last putting down, there must be steady lucidity and uncompromise of purpose.

Good writing can be defined as having something to say and saying it well. When one has nothing to say, one should remain silent. Silence is always beautiful at such times.

You will have written exceptionally well if, by skilful arrangement of your words, you have made an ordinary one seem original.

The secret of all good writing is sound judgment.

Did you ever admire an empty-headed writer for his or her mastery of the language? No. So your own winning style must begin with ideas in your head.

Sound judgment is the ground of writing well.

Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well.