To acquire style, begin by affecting none.

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.

A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

The surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definitive, and concrete. The greatest writers - Homer, Dante, Shakespeare - are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter. Their words call up pictures.

If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud!

Never call a stomach a tummy without good reason.