William Zinsser Quotes
		
	 
	
		
	
	
	
		Writing is linear and sequential; Sentence B must follow Sentence A, and Sentence C must follow Sentence B, and eventually you get to Sentence Z. The hard part of writing isn't the writing; it's the thinking. You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: What does the reader need to know next?
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				William Zinsser 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	 
	
	
	
	Quotes to Explore 
		
	
	
	
	
	
		I was a confused young girl with so much tragedy. Sometimes when you're going through stuff, the last person you're thinking exists is God. I mean, it was my confusion, the anger that was in my heart, all that drama. But thank God I know God now, okay? 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Tasha Smith 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		There's something different that happens when you're writing a song for your own record that you know you're going to sing. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Beck 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		I was thinking as a little girl growing up that I would be there. When I look at whether we can go to Mars, it's definitely something we can do. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Mae Jemison 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		When you're writing a book, you don't really think about it critically. You don't want to know too well what you're doing. First, you write the book, then you find the justification for it. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				E. L. Doctorow 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		Music, first of all, is completely about abstraction, which is exactly what architecture is not. In a way, it has been incredibly constructive to know what true abstraction is. So you don't fall into the trap of thinking that what you do is abstract. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Rafael Vinoly 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		Instead of writing songs for girls, I tend to write albums, which I guess is a bit weird. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Ed Sheeran 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	 
		
	
	
	
	
		Writing for me is quite a plastic form, a kind of mental sculpture, although that sounds weird. It acquires its character and its depth as it goes along. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Kate Atkinson 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		I love writing but hate starting. The page is awfully white, and it says, 'You may have fooled some of the people some of the time, but those days are over, giftless. I'm not your agent, and I'm not your mommy; I'm a white piece of paper. You wanna dance with me?' and I really, really don't. I'll go peaceable-like. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Aaron Sorkin 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		Medicine was certainly intended to be a career. I wanted to become a psychiatrist, an adolescent ambition which, of course, is fulfilled by many psychiatrists. The doctor/psychiatrist figures in my writing are alter egos of a kind, what I would have been had I not become a writer - a personal fantasy that I've fed into my fiction. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				J. G. Ballard 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		Before I even knew what that half of my family did, I was interested in performing. I remember being seven years old and up on a stage and loving it. I've always adored it. Not just acting, but the whole process of writing and directing movies, everything that has to do with that part of life. Maybe it's in my blood. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Jack Huston 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		If the history of resistance to Darwinian thinking is a good measure, we can expect that long into the future, long after every triumph of human thought has been matched or surpassed by 'mere machines,' there will still be thinkers who insist that the human mind works in mysterious ways that no science can comprehend. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Daniel Dennett 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		I was a Navy officer writing about Navy problems and I simply stole this lovely Army nurse and popped her into a Navy uniform, where she has done very well for herself. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				James A. Michener 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	 
		
		
	
	
	
	
		I had been writing for the 'Late Show' for about four years when I started writing short stories. I had a blast writing the stories because I was writing in a voice more my own, as opposed to a man's. HBO ended up buying four of them. I think that had a direct impact on my decision to write a book. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Jill Davis 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		Plant flowers in others' gardens and your life becomes a bouquet! Submitted by Lisa Letto, Coordinator, Nutrition Resource and Volunteer Centre, College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy, I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Rabindranath Tagore 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		I never felt at home in London, because people were constantly telling me I didn't belong here, so after a while, you tend to believe that. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Naveen Andrews 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		Peace is the wait of the patient soul. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Candace Wheeler 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		I would enjoy flying to Mars. This was the dream of the first cosmonauts. I wish I could realize it! I am ready to fly without coming back. 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				Valentina Tereshkova 
			 
		 
	
	
  
	 
	
	
	
	
		Writing is linear and sequential; Sentence B must follow Sentence A, and Sentence C must follow Sentence B, and eventually you get to Sentence Z. The hard part of writing isn't the writing; it's the thinking. You can solve most of your writing problems if you stop after every sentence and ask: What does the reader need to know next? 
	
	 
	
		
			
				
					
						 
				
				William Zinsser