The essayist, moralist, poet, critic and biographer, who lived in the 18th century, was also the author of the Dictionary of the English Language, which is said to still have an impact on modern English. Therefore, it seems fitting that Johnson’s opinion should be taken as the highest authority on writing.
For all of our Anne of Green Gables or Road to Avonlea fans who have been inspired to tell their own stories on the page, here are some pieces of advice from some of the most accomplished and celebrated writers of centuries past and present:
If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams—the more they are condensed the deeper they burn. ~ Southey.
Words are things; and a small drop of ink,
Falling like dew upon a thought; produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think. ~ Byron
Every great or original writer in proportion as he is great or original, must himself create the taste by which he must be relished. ~ Wordsworth
The world agrees
That he writes well who writes with ease. ~ Prior.
To write well is at once to think well, to feel righty, and to render properly! It is to have, at the same time, mind, soul, taste. ~ Buffon
The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart. ~ Maya Angelou
Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~ Mark Twain
I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean. ~ Socrates
There are events which are so great that if a writer has participated in them his obligation is to write truly rather than assume the presumption of altering them with invention. ~ Ernest Hemingway
If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what you will never read, you have done rare things. ~ Henry David Thoreau
The most important thing for poets to do is to write as little as possible. ~ T. S. Eliot
Have you ever been given advice about writing from teachers or friends? Please share your thoughts!
