Henry Watson Fowler, pre Web Curator

Having just finished a hurdle of papers, papers, and more papers, these two quotes from Henry Watson Fowler hit home. Fowler was one of the original curators, before curating became cool. Fowler was the author of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English and I am nerdy enough to list Fowler as one of my ideal dinner guests. (I came by the nerd life through lineage not choice).

Anyone 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. ~ Henry Watson Fowler, author of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 1911 and A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 1926

and

Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched. Prefer the concrete word to the abstract. Prefer the single word to the circumlocution. Prefer the short word to the long. ~ Henry Watson Fowler, author of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 1911 and A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 1926