{"id":109922,"date":"2026-03-26T01:27:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T01:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/?p=109922"},"modified":"2026-03-26T01:27:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T01:27:50","slug":"why-writers-should-learn-to-write-quotable-prose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/why-writers-should-learn-to-write-quotable-prose\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Writers Should Learn to Write Quotable Prose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Make your words linger long after the last page. Discover the power of quotable prose.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Banele Ndlovu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My history with quotes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For most of my childhood, the only reading I did of my own volition was of the humour section at the back of Drum<\/em> magazine. I would sit for hours with a pen in hand and a piece of paper, writing down all the best quips from my aunt\u2019s collection of magazines. I committed as many as I could to memory and recited them to my friends at school the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hated reading anything else. My teachers were merely the first in a line of many who had the unfortunate task of \u2018encouraging me to read\u2019. While I wasn\u2019t a big fan of the reading lists, I enjoyed it when my friends and I, in a heated debate about all things under the sun, would recall lines from the books to prove our points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My love for quotes didn\u2019t end there. I had my first phone in my teens: the Motorola V360. It doubled as a typewriter. I became the kind of kid the meme \u2018I\u2019m 14, and this is deep\u2019 is about. I collected and reread all the wittiest and most beautiful quotes I could find and started learning to write some of my own. This practice taught me a few things about writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Five things I learnt from practising quotable prose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Caring about the fundamentals of writing.<\/strong> People don\u2019t quote clunky, grammatically incorrect passages. They quote passages that are clear and concise.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    1. Writing with conviction and authority.<\/strong> The best quotes are those that do not second-guess themselves. They avoid words like \u2018I think\u2019, \u2018in my opinion\u2019, \u2018probably\u2019, \u2018generally\u2019, etc. They say what they want to say and let those who disagree, disagree.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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      1. Writing melodically and memorably.<\/strong> The sound and aesthetic of a paragraph or sentence matter just as much as what it is attempting to argue. \u2018I can think, and this means that I\u2019m alive\u2019 does not have the kind of success that \u2018I think, therefore I am\u2019 has.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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        1. Offering something deeply insightful and exciting to readers on every page.<\/strong> As writers, we can be too fixated on producing meaningful and exciting books and neglect the opportunity to produce meaningful and exciting passages along the way. In his article encouraging slow and intentional reading<\/a>, pastor and theologian John Piper writes, \u2018Books don\u2019t change people, paragraphs do \u2013 sometimes sentences.\u2019 His observation is a sober reminder to both the reader and the writer that a great book is an anthology of great sentences.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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          1. Completing stand-alone thoughts.<\/strong> In his article on the subject<\/a>, author and editor Ross McCammon highlights the importance of \u2018autonomous ideas that don\u2019t require context\u2019. Contrasting the quotable sentence, \u2018Usefulness is an underrated quality in writing,\u2019 with the not-so-quotable, \u2018It<\/em> is an underrated quality in writing,\u2019 he warns writers to watch out for words like \u2018it\u2019, which, as demonstrated, hinder quotability.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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            READ MORE:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n