“...when a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor.”

“When a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor.”

“Rather, very, little, pretty -- these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. The constant use of the adjective little (except to indicate size) is particularly debilitating; we should all try to do a little better, we should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one, and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then. ”

“Never call a stomach a tummy without good reason.”

“Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.”

“Instead of announcing what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so.”

“Young writers often suppose that style is a garnish for the meat of prose, a sauce by which a dull dish is made palatable. Style has no such entity; it is nondetachable, unfilterable.”