Henry Watson Fowler Quotes

Any one who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.

The purpose of paragraphing is to give the reader a rest. The writer is saying . . . : Have you got that? If so, I'll go to the next point.

Those who run to long words are mainly the unskillful and tasteless; they confuse pomposity with dignity, flaccidity with ease, and bulk with force.

Be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.

Anyone who finds himself putting down several commas close to one another should reflect that he is making himself disagreeable.

After all, it is an ancient and valuable right of the English people to turn their nouns into verbs when they are so minded.

We tell our thoughts, like our children, to put on their hats and coats before they go out.

It need hardly be said that shortness is a merit in words.

Those who are addicted to the phrase "to use a vulgarism" expect to achieve the feat of being at once vulgar and superior to vulgarity.

The obvious is better than obvious avoidance of it.

The writer's Queen Victoria is his public, and he would do well to keep a bust of the old Queen on his desk with the legend "We are not amused" hanging from it.