Nobody ever stopped reading E. B. White or V. S. Pritchett because the writing was too good.

The best way to learn to write is to study the work of the men and women who are doing the kind of writing you want to do.

Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is.

Be yourself and your readers will follow you anywhere. Try to commit an act of writing and they will jump overboard to get away.

Not every oak has to be gnarled, every detective hard-bitten. The adjective that exists solely as a decoration is a self-indulgence for the writer and an obstacle for the reader.

You must find some way to elevate your act of writing into an entertainment. Usually this means giving the reader an enjoyable surprise. Any number of devices will do the job.... These seeming amusements in fact become your 'style.' When we say we like the style of certain writers, what we mean is that we like their personality as they express it on paper.

Editors are licensed to be curious.