Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book
Dave Font
https://www.goodreads.com/hellyeah
“It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however, the reader will usually find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the cost of the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will probably do best to follow the rules. After he has learned, by their guidance, to write plain English adequate for everyday uses, let him look, for the secrets of style, to the study of the masters of literature.”
― The Elements Of Style
― The Elements Of Style
“I remember a day in class when he leaned forward, in his characteristic pose - the pose of a man about to impart a secret and croaked, "If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud! If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud! "This comical piece of advice struck me as sound at the time, and I still respect it. Why compound ignorance with inaudibility? Why run and hide?”
― The Elements of Style
― The Elements of Style
“Omit needless words.”
― The Elements of Style; How to Speak and Write Correctly
― The Elements of Style; How to Speak and Write Correctly
“Vigorous writing is concise. 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. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”
― The Elements of Style
― The Elements of Style
“If you have received a letter inviting you to speak at the dedication of a new cat hospital, and you hate cats, your reply, declining the invitation, does not necessarily have to cover the full range of your emotions. You must make it clear that you will not attend, but you do not have to let fly at the cats. The writer of the letter asked a civil question; attack cats, then, only if you can do so with good humor, good taste, and in such a way that your answer will be courteous as well as responsive. Since you are out of sympathy with cats, you may quite properly give this as a reason for not appearing at the dedicatory ceremonies of a cat hospital. But bear in mind that your opinion of cats was not sought, only your services as a speaker. Try to keep things straight.”
― The Elements of Style
― The Elements of Style
Dave’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Dave’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
1,101 books
|
361 friends
699 books
|
107 friends
131 books
|
206 friends
188 books
|
224 friends
5,611 books
|
761 friends
1,598 books
|
337 friends
1,234 books
|
723 friends
614 books
|
225 friends
More friends…
Polls voted on by Dave
Lists liked by Dave