There is simply a better chance of doing well if the writer holds a steady course, enters the stream of English quietly, and does not thrash about.

All we need is a meteorologist who has once been soaked to the skin without ill effect. No one can write knowingly of the weather who walks bent over on wet days.

A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there in a book, you may have your question answered

Walden is the only book I own, although there are some others unclaimed on my shelves. Every man, I think, reads one book in his life, and this is mine. It is not the best book I ever encountered, perhaps, but it is for me the handiest, and I keep it about me in much the same way one carries a handkerchief - for relief in moments of defluxion or despair.

The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.

Liberty is never out of bounds or off limits; it spreads wherever it can capture the imagination of men.