As to the Adjective: When in doubt, strike it out.
- Pudd'nhead Wilson
You need not expect to get your book right the first time. Go to work and revamp
or rewrite it. God only exhibits his thunder and lightning at intervals, and
so they always command attention. These are God's adjectives. You thunder and
lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by.
- Letter to Orion Clemens, 3/23/1878
I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences.
That is the way to write English--it is the modern way and the best way. Stick
to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an
adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them--then the
rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength
when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit,
once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.
- Letter to D. W. Bowser, 3/20/1880
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