The following copywriting quotations are listed alphabetically, by surname:
“Make your copy straightforward to read, understand and use. Use easy words; those that are used for everyday speech.” ~ Jay Abraham
“Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.” ~ Howard Aiken
“Writing comes more easily if you have something to say.” ~ Sholem Asch
“Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.” ~ Francis Bacon, Essays 1625 (or woman, indeed)
“The real advertising writer who is after results makes the reader want something and then provides what the reader will consider a good excuse for buying it.” ~ Clyde Bedell
“Let us prove to the world that good taste, good art, and good writing can be good selling.” ~ William Bernbach
“The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.” ~ William Bernbach
“No one who cannot limit himself has ever been able to write.” ~ Nicolas Boileau L’Art Poetique 1674
“There is no such thing as ‘soft sell’ and ‘hard sell.’ There is only ‘smart sell’ and ‘stupid sell’.” ~ Charles Browder
“I’ve learned that any fool can write a bad ad, but that it takes a real genius to keep his hands off a good one.” ~ Leo Burnett
“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” ~ Leo Burnett
“People aren’t interested in you. They’re interested in themselves.” ~ Dale Carnegie
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.” ~ Dale Carnegie
“Sometimes the most important job advertising can do, is to clarify the obvious.” ~ Jay Chiat
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ~ Anton Chekhov
“We have become so accustomed to hearing everyone claim that his product is the best in the world, or the cheapest, that we take all such statements with a grain of salt.” ~ Robert Collier
“Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them. Sometimes it’s an ad.” ~ Howard Gossage
“A copywriter should have an understanding of people, an insight into them, a sympathy toward them.” ~ George Gribbin
“The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” ~ Jack Kerouac
“Believe me; nothing works as well on the web as deadlines.” ~ Clayton Makepeace
“Consumers do not buy products. They buy product benefits.” ~ David Ogilvy
“Unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money.” ~ David Ogilvy
“On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy.” ~ David Ogilvy
“When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.” ~ David Ogilvy
“The secret of all true persuasion is to induce the person to persuade himself.” ~ Harry Overstreet
“Copy is a direct conversation with the consumer.” ~ Shirley Polykoff
“You must make the product interesting, not just make the ad different. And that’s what too many of the copywriters in the U.S. today don’t yet understand.” ~ Rosser Reeves
“Resist the usual.” ~ Raymond Rubicam
“Make your advertising too valuable to throw away.” ~ Sonia Simone
“Copy is not written. If anyone tells you ‘you write copy’, sneer at them. Copy is not written. Copy is assembled. You do not write copy, you assemble it. You are working with a series of building blocks, you are putting the building blocks together, and then you are putting them in certain structures, you are building a little city of desire for your person to come and live in.” ~ Eugene Schwartz
“Write short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.” ~ Nigel Temple
“You can’t bore people into buying from you.” ~ Nigel Temple
“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” ~ Mark Twain
“Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.” ~ Zig Ziglar
“The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity.” ~ Zig Ziglar
“Success means doing the best we can with what we have.” ~ Zig Ziglar
“You can have everything you want in life if you will help enough people get what they want.” ~ Zig Ziglar