100 ways to improve your writing - Gary Provost 2019

Use quotations
Eleven ways to make people like what you write

Though “quotations” and “quotes” are the same thing, we generally think of quotations as words that are notable enough to have been preserved through time.

Use quotations when you need to enhance an idea with something poetic or reinforce a generalization or an opinion.

Quotations will create the idea that you are not alone in your opinion, that somebody, perhaps even Abraham Lincoln, agrees with you. They will give you credibility by association.

Don’t use a lot of quotations, however, or they will look more like crutches to hold you than planks to support you.

How do you come up with good quotations? The most famous source is Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, but there are a variety of paperback and hardcover books of quotations. Some are arranged by topic, some by author, some by both. Browse in the bookstore. Also, when you hear a quotation you like, write it down. Here’s how you might use a quotation:

“Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” The words were written by Langston Hughes, but they have special meaning today for Sturge Thibedeau. Thibedeau, who has been called one of Hollywood’s worst directors, achieved his lifelong dream yesterday with the release of Treadmill to Oblivion.