Don’t say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be tired. Be confused. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don’t hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident.

My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity.

Avoid the ecstatic adjectives that occupy such disproportionate space in every critic's quiver - words like "enthralling" and "luminous."

Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly-about any subject at all.

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

All writers should strive to deliver something fresh-something editors or readers won't know they want until they see it.

Writing organizes and clarifies our thoughts. Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us to find out what we know-and what we don't know-about whatever we're trying to learn.