One great aim of revision is to cut out. In the exuberance of composition it is natural to throw in - as one does in speaking - a number of small words that add nothing to meaning but keep up the flow and rhythm of thought. In writing, not only does this surplusage not add to meaning, it subtracts from it. Read and revise, reread and revise, keeping reading and revising until your text seems adequate to your thought.
Jacques BarzunVanity is a static thing. It puts it faith in what it has, and is easily wounded. Pride is active, and satisfied only with what it can do, hence accustomed not to feel small stings.
Jacques BarzunTo denounce does not free the self from what it hates, any more than ignoring the past shuts off its influence.
Jacques BarzunAbove all, do not talk yourself out of good ideas by trying to expound them at haphazard meetings.
Jacques BarzunWe cannot appreciate the art of any age without first acquiring an equivalent of the experience it depicts.
Jacques Barzun