Scholarship hath no fury like that of a language purist faced with sludge.

Less is more.

Writing is thinking on paper.

Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon.

Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading.

Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity.

When you're ready to stop, stop. If you have presented all the facts and made the point you want to make, look for the nearest exit.

I almost always urge people to write in the first person. ... Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it.

Thought is action in rehearsal.

A clear sentence is no accident.

If the nails are weak, your house will collapse. If your verbs are weak and your syntax is rickety, your sentences will fall apart.

Group idea sessions rarely work. Why? Members too busy knocking down insights to hear the tap-tap of revelation

No matter what they say in the conferences and symposiums about poverty and hunger in the world. At the end, they are the first one forgetting us.

This is the sphinx of the hearthstone, the little god of domesticity, whose presence turns a house into a home.

Act with kindness but do not expect gratitude.

Lincoln is quoted more often than he's understood, and he understood that the founding principle of our nation is, in fact, the Declaration of Independence.

Very well. I understand. Just ... shut up!

I think of myself as a very lazy writer, though other people see it differently.

No matter how softly you whisper a prayer, God hears and understands.

I think you have to know who you are. Get to know the monster that lives in your soul, dive deep into your soul and explore it.