The duty to be good, not lousy

Our thanks to the readers who said they enjoyed the post about E.B. White, whose work at the New Yorker starting in 1925 resembled what we now call blogging.

Here’s one more piece of great advice from White for today’s bloggers and others:

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A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. I feel no obligation to deal with politics. I do feel a responsibility to society because of going into print: a writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down. Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life.

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That’s from an interview of E.B. White in the Fall 1969 issue of the Paris Review.

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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.