Billy Collins Quotes

Fine writing is a distinct disadvantage. So is unique literary style. They take attention from the subject

Let us not write at a loose rambling rate, in hope the world will wink at all our faults.

The shorter and the plainer the better.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Clear writing, and therefore clear commands, comes from clear thinking. Think simple.

You know that I write slowly. This is chiefly because I am never satisfied until I have said as much as possible in a few words, and writing briefly takes far more time than writing at length.

In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style.

One mistake with beginners in writing is, that they think it important to spin out something long. It is a great deal better not to write more than a page or two, unless you have something to say, and can write it correctly.

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

It is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one's own personality. Good prose is like a windowpane.

Adverbs lead to overwriting. Try taking them out and reading your prose again to see how it sounds. Simple and less words are more powerful.

I believe an editor's job is to help a writer sound like himself or herself.

I cannot write long books; I leave that for those who have nothing to say.

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

Successful writers learn at last what they should learn at first,--to be intelligently simple.

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.

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 think precision in writing goes hand in hand with not trying to say everything. You try and say two-thirds, so the reader will involve himself or herself.

A lot of critics think I'm stupid because my sentences are so simple and my method is so direct: they think these are defects. No. The point is to write as much as you know as quickly as possible.

I think in most cases, unless you're writing about a character who is garrulous, you say what you've got to say and then get out. Those little conjunctions, those little turnaround words help you do it. That's the way I like to write: I get rid of things rather than add them.

The simpler you say it, the more eloquent it is.

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

Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.

The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.

A writer should never be brief at the expense of being clear.

I confess to wincing every so often at a poorly chosen word, a mangled sentence, an expression of emotion that seems indulgent or overly practiced. I have the urge to cut the book by fifty pages or so, possessed as I am with a keener appreciation for brevity.