Quotes by Bill Walsh

• Writers' bedtimes vary, but few have been spared the shock of a copy editor's early wake-up call.
• Nothing is more effective than sincere, accurate praise, and nothing is more lame than a cookie-cutter compliment.
• Machines aren't replacing proofreaders at all. Copy editors, who proofread and much, much more, use spellcheck as a tool but read every word that appears in the paper.
• If any sort of error is inexcusable, it's an incorrect phone number. One of the cardinal rules of copy editing is that every phone number published must be checked.
• A harsh reality of newspaper editing is that the deadlines don't allow for the polish that you expect in books or even magazines.
• I caution against beginning or ending a quotation with ellipses.
• Writing headlines is a specialty - there are outstanding writers who will tell you they couldn't write a headline to save their lives.