William Strunk Jr.

“Consciously or unconsciously, the reader is dissatisfied with being told only what is not; the reader wishes to be told what is... If your every sentence admits a doubt, your writing will lack authority.”

“1. Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic.”

“Do not, therefore, say "I feel nauseous," unless you are sure you have that effect on others.”

“None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right.”

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessay sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”

“Vigorous writing is concise.”

“It's worse to irresolute than wrong.”

“Omit needless words.”