I’ve been collecting quotations about writing and writers, editing and editors, wording and words for decades. Here are just some of my favorites.
Everyone needs an editor. ~ Tim Foote
The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. ~ Mark Twain
The simpler you say it, the more eloquent it is. ~ August Wilson
Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space. ~ Orson Scott Card
A metaphor is like a simile. ~ Author Unknown
Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~ Mark Twain
There are no dull subjects. There are only dull writers. ~ H. L. Mencken
Many writers profess great exactness in punctuation who never yet made a point. ~ George Dennison Prentice
I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper. ~ Steve Martin
A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit. ~ Often attributed to Richard Bach, who denies having written/said this. Thanks to http://www.proswrite.com for correcting my mistake.
One gains universal applause who mingles the useful with the agreeable, at once delighting and instructing the reader. ~ Horace
If you can’t annoy somebody, there is little point in writing. ~ Kingsley Amis
There’s a great power in words, if you don’t hitch too many of them together. ~ Josh Billings
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. ~ Thomas Jefferson.
Good things, when short, are twice as good. ~ Baltasar Gracian
The first draft of anything is shit. ~ Ernest Hemingway
Rereading reveals rubbish and redundance. ~ Duane Alan Hahn
Always avoid alliteration. ~ Author Unknown
The time to begin 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. ~ Mark Twain
Editing might be a bloody trade. But knives aren’t the exclusive property of butchers. Surgeons use them too. ~ Blake Morrison
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. ~ John Ruskin
Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. ~ Gene Fowler
Every writer I know has trouble writing. ~ Joseph Heller
You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke. ~ Arthur Plotnik
An editor is someone who separates the wheat from the chaff and then prints the chaff. ~ Adlai Stevenson
Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason. ~ Richard C. Trench
If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know? ~ Steve Wright
You become a good writer just as you become a good joiner: by planing down your sentences. ~ Anatole France
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. ~ Author Unknown
I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter. ~ James Michener
Rewriting ripens what you’ve written. ~ Duane Alan Hahn
The wastebasket is a writer’s best friend. ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer
I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~ Elmore Leonard
Easy reading is damn hard writing. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne
What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure. ~ Samuel Johnson
Our admiration of fine writing will always be in proportion to its real difficulty and its apparent ease. ~ Charles Caleb Colton
Asking a writer what he thinks about criticism is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs. ~ John Osborne
Those who write clearly have readers; those who write obscurely have commentators. ~ Albert Camus
Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers. ~ T. S. Eliot
A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. ~ Thomas Mann
It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous. ~ Robert Benchley
I write to teach myself what I already know. ~ Duane Alan Hahn
If you steal from one author, it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many, it’s research. ~ Wilson Mizner
For I am a bear of very little brain and long words bother me. ~ Winnie the Pooh
Pithy sentences are like sharp nails driving truth into our memory. ~ Diderot
It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Never be so brief as to become obscure. ~ Tryon Edwards
There is no artifice as good and desirable as simplicity. ~ St. Francis de Sales
As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out. ~ Mark Twain
I do not like to write — I like to have written. ~ Gloria Steinem
It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. ~ Robert Southey
August 4, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Hey Laura, that’s a nice collection of quotes on writing. Thanks.
November 21, 2008 at 9:30 am
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. ~ Author Unknown
the author is Dave Barry
November 30, 2008 at 1:42 am
Remember that even grammar has a bias.
–Albert Einstein
February 13, 2009 at 7:32 am
Re “proofread carefully…” above — I first saw that “instruction” 30 years ago in a book by William Safire….
1 – Join clauses good, like a conjunction should.
2 – Don’t use no double negative.
3 – Make each pronoun agree with their antecedent.
4 – About them sentence fragments.
5 – When dangling, watch your participles.
6 – Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
7 – Just between you and I, case is important too.
8 – Don’t write run-on sentences they are hard to read.
9 – Its important to use your apostrophe’s correctly.
10 – Proofread your writing to see if you any words out.
11 – Correct spelling is esential.
July 9, 2009 at 11:56 am
I should say that terriblywrite.wordpress.com has lots of interesting information. Looks like the author did a good job. I will be coming back to terriblywrite.wordpress.com for new information. Thank you.
June 24, 2010 at 12:55 pm
For some reason, the Mark Twain quotes always seem to me the most relevant and amusing. Thanks for the collection, I think this is going into my favorites list.
http://www.quotegarden.com/writing.html
^ That’s my usual Writing Quote reference, which is not mine, but which I tend to visit at least once a month and which I post for the elucidation of other readers.
August 6, 2010 at 6:34 am
I was looking for “gramma” blogs and found yours. I guess Google is worth something after all.
September 15, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Hi, Laura —
Great blog. Typos and misspellings are proliferating in our society. This should be required reading for all bloggers. I especially like your quotes.
September 15, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Theresa,
You’re right about the increase in typos and misspellings. But I think there’s also an increase in grammatical errors as well as other sloppy mistakes. The fact that these thousands of errors are made by professional writers and editors working for one of the largest Internet companies in the world is appalling to me. I can’t think of a single excuse for the quality of writing Yahoo perpetrates every day on the public.
August 1, 2011 at 11:41 am
This is fabulous collection of quotations. Thanks!
August 5, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Thanks for these. This is a great resource for my English class!
August 21, 2011 at 7:18 am
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your blog and check again here frequently. I’m quite sure I’ll learn lots of new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next!
August 23, 2011 at 10:24 pm
I really liked the article, and the very cool blog
July 31, 2012 at 8:12 am
I enjoyed the quotes, Laura. Richard Bach says he can’t take credit for “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” See http://richardbach.com/famous-quotes-i-didnt-write/. Oh . . . and I should probably point out that his last name is misspelled above 😦
July 31, 2012 at 5:08 pm
Yikes! Thanks for pointing out my typo; I’ve corrected the spelling of Richard Bach’s name. I’ve also added a little information about the alleged source of the quotation and a hat-tip to Pros Write. I rely on my readers to catch my mistakes, which I hope are relatively rare (at least compared to those made by Yahoo staffers). Just goes to show you — everyone needs an editor!
August 1, 2012 at 7:09 am
Perfection is not an option! Like you, I work to minimize the IMperfections. And editors are the key.
August 3, 2012 at 3:26 am
[…] finally, I leave you with some fun writing quotes I found. Click HERE to go to the website. The simpler you say it, the more eloquent it is. ~ August […]
August 29, 2012 at 11:14 am
Love these.
September 25, 2012 at 9:41 am
Yahoo! obviously lives by Andrew Jackson’s observation: “It’s a damned poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word.”
I am hooked on your blog. Exacting minds think alike.
September 25, 2012 at 10:46 am
Ha! I love that quote. I may just have to use it myself.
September 29, 2012 at 8:24 am
Nice collection. . .
~ Quotes About Moving On
October 17, 2012 at 6:17 am
Great compilation of quotes. I’ve got to share these with friends. Some are very good tips. 🙂
October 17, 2012 at 7:33 am
Thanks. I’ve been compiling them for years and years and finally found an outlet for sharing them.
October 18, 2012 at 11:16 pm
[…] I came across these great writing and editing quotes over on Terribly Write. Thanks, Dad!) Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Google + Share […]
November 21, 2012 at 8:37 am
Great collection of quotes. Thanks.
April 26, 2013 at 9:33 am
[…] Easy reading is damn hard writing. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne […]
May 2, 2013 at 9:23 pm
[…] Easy reading is damn hard writing. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne […]
April 30, 2014 at 7:17 am
[…] For more quotations on editing, check out the blog Terribly Write. […]
April 30, 2014 at 7:19 am
linked to this post on re: read pages; http://rereadpages.wordpress.com/?p=108&preview=true
April 30, 2014 at 11:14 am
Laura, these are wonderful. I’m familiar with many but not all of them. Along with the smiles comes truth. Thank you.
April 30, 2014 at 12:21 pm
You’re welcome. I go back to this page occasionally to remind myself that writing and editing aren’t easy for anyone.
July 12, 2014 at 10:37 am
[…] https://terriblywrite.wordpress.com/quotations-about-writing-and-editing/ […]
May 14, 2015 at 7:08 pm
If you’re greeting someone and you’re not saying their name, do you need a comma after the greeting word?
May 14, 2015 at 8:46 pm
If you mean starting with Hello or Hi with no name following, you still need a comma before you launch into whatever you’re going to write.
May 14, 2015 at 9:04 pm
Hi! Hello? You might or might not need a comma after “hello” or “hi.” It depends on the context.
May 14, 2015 at 9:00 pm
You really haven’t given me enough information about the sentence to answer that.
July 15, 2015 at 8:44 pm
live young live free
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November 16, 2016 at 4:36 pm
Isn’t the Twain quote actually “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
May 6, 2017 at 9:52 pm
It seems that ‘Easy reading is damned hard writing’ should be attributed to Thomas Hood, not Nathanial Hawthorne.
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/11/05/hard-writing/