42 Quotes On Copywriting
Copywriting is one of the most valuable skills you can learn.
It literally turns words into money.
Like any skill, it requires learning the fundamentals and a bucketful of practice, but once you get it, you become the ultimate persuaded.
So whether you’re writing websites or press ads, brochures or blogs, landing pages or newsletters, you’ll know the right words to convince others to take action.
Here are 42 quotes from various thinkers, writers, artists, and others to give you insight into what it takes to be a great copywriter.
1. "I have always believed that writing advertisements is the second most profitable form of writing. The first, of course, is ransom notes.”
- Philip Dusenberry, Advertising Executive
2. "When copywriters argue with me about some esoteric word they want to use, I say to them, ‘Get on a bus. Go to Iowa. Stay on a farm for a week and talk to the farmer. Come back to New York by train and talk to your fellow passengers in the day-coach. If you still want to use the word, go ahead."
- David Ogilvy, Advertising Executive
3. “The real fact of the matter is that nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.”
- Howard Gossage, Advertising Executive
4. “So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”
- Dr. Seuss, Children’s Author
5. “The first draft of anything is shit.”
- Ernest Hemingway, Novelist
6. “Brevity is the sister of talent.”
- Anton Chekhov, Playwright
7. “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, Advertising Executive
8. “Sometimes the best copy to sell a horse is ‘Horse for Sale.’”
- Jay Abraham, Executive Coach
9. “Copy is a direct conversation with the consumer.”
– Shirley Polykoff, American Copywriter
10. “Know your target audience, not intellectually but intuitively. Think like them, empathise with them. Because at some level, the reader needs to like the writer”.
– Mary Wear, Copywriter
11. “If your reader senses you’re excited by the product, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll feel the same way”.
- Susie Henry, Creative Advertising Lecturer
12. “The audience is our first responsibility, even before the client, for if we cannot involve them what good will that do them.”
- Howard Gossage, Advertising Executive
13. “Writing that lacks simplicity reveals thinking that lacks understanding”.
- Shane Parrish, Writer
14. “Never forget who it is you’re talking to and write as you speak. Don’t preach, don’t show off and never be boring.”
- Alan Parker, Film Director
15. “Clean writing makes a writer seem smarter and it makes the writer’s arguments more persuasive.”
- Scott Adams, Writer
16. “Examine every word you put on paper. You’ll find a surprising number that don’t serve any purpose.”
- William Zinsser, Writer
17. "Copywriters are salespeople whose job is to convince people to buy products."
- Robert W. Bly, Copywriter
18. “If you did not write every day, the poisons would accumulate and you would begin to die, or act crazy, or both. You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
- Ray Bradbury, Novelist
19. “But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components.”
- William Zinsser, Writer
20. “If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.”
- George Orwell, Writer
21. “The secret of good writing is to say an old thing in a new way or to say a new thing in an old way.”
- Richard Harding Davis, Journalist
22. “Good copywriting will give the logical explanation for buying. These are known as “features.” But the person decides to buy based on the “benefits” which are always emotional. Perry Marshall is known for a phrase, “Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill, they wanted a hole.”
- Robert R. Updegraff & Dr. Robert C. Worstell, Authors
23. “Good advertising is written from one person to another. When it is aimed at millions it rarely moves anyone.”
– Fairfax M. Cone, Businessman
24. “Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without the other.”
- William Zinsser, Writer
25. “Copywriting is one of the most important skills you can have in business and one of the most important skills you can have in life.”
- Sam Parr, Entrepreneur
26. “The written word is the strongest source of power in the entire universe.”
- Gary Halbert, Copywriter
27. “Anything you write is, at its core, selling something. Maybe that something is a product or service. Maybe it’s you.”
– Kira Hug, Copywriter
28. “In writing good advertising it is necessary to put a mood into words and to transfer that mood to the reader.”
– Helen Woodward, The First Female Account Executive in the United States
29. “A copywriter should have an understanding of people, an insight into them, a sympathy toward them.”
– George Gribbin, Advertising Executive
30. “Here’s the only thing you’re selling, no matter what business you’re in and what you ship: you’re selling your prospects a better version of themselves.”
- Joanna Wiebe, Copywriter
31. “Great ideas are simple. Give the copywriter clear single-minded direction if you expect a big idea to reach the consumer.”
- Ken Roman and Jane Maas, Advertising Experts
32. “If a headline begins with the words ‘How to,’ the copywriter is forced to write copy that tells how to do something, and that is exactly the kind of copy the reader desires.”
- John Caples, Copywriter
33. “All copywriters face the same challenge. Is the copy believable? Does it sound like it came from a human being to a human being?”
- Bill Jayme, Copywriter
34. “If I could proffer just one piece of advice it would be this: edit, edit, edit.”
- Barbara Nokes, Copywriter
35. “A good copywriter gets the sale.”
- Robert R. Updegraff & Dr. Robert C. Worstell, Authors
36. "Some copywriters write tricky headlines – double meanings, puns and other obscurities. This is counter-productive. In the average newspaper your headline has to compete with 350 others. Readers travel fast through this jungle. Your headline should telegraph what you want to say."
- David Ogilvy, Advertising Executive
37. "Features don’t make somebody buy something. The benefit of those features gets them to buy from you."
- Jim Edwards, Copywriter
38. "There is no such thing as too long. Only too boring."
- Dan Nelken, Copywriter
39. “Copywriting is a mental process, the successful execution of which reflects the sum total of all your experiences, your specific knowledge and your ability to mentally process that information and transfer it onto a sheet of paper for the purpose of selling a product or service”.
- Joseph Sugarman, Copywriter
40. “The best headlines are those that appeal to the reader’s self-interest, that is, headlines based on reader benefits. They offer readers something they want – and get from you.”
- John Caples, Copywriter
41. “No sentence can be effective if it contains facts alone. It must also contain emotion, image, logic, and promise.”
- Eugene Schwartz, Copywriter
42. "If you use a poor headline, it does not matter how hard you labor over your copy because your copy will not be read."
- John Caples, Copywriter
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