I’m not sure Rummy’s thinking has changed in the last 30 years. The difference is he’s still corect.

The Lion, the Lion, he dwells in the waste,

He has a big head and a very small waist;

But his shoulders are stark, and his jaws they are grim,

And a good little child will not play with him.

Will Strunk loved the clear, the brief, the bold, and his book is clear, brief, bold.

Page ix concludes the Contents and begins:

17. Do not inject opinion

I turned to page 80 and was reminded that:

…to air one’s views at an improper time may be in bad taste.

Egotism is also mentioned, but then, as yet another great opinionated journalist, Amrose Bierce, put it in The Devil’s Dictionary:

Egotist, n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me.

By the way, I just finished reading The Big Fix, in what appeared to be a library bound early paperback edition. Other than a couple of technical nitpicks, like a Harley vertical twin and filling a pipe bowl with hash without a little of the Michoacan to help it burn, I was quite impressed.

Anyway, just handling the book induces language care. Not excellence, but a care about it. Anyway, after pg IX I tried pg 9 for the quote. No luck again, pg 9 ends a chapter and is mostly blank, having only these three sentences:

Sentences violating Rule 7 are often ludicrous:

“Being in a dilapidated condition, I was able to buy the house very cheap.”

“Wondering irresolutely what to do next, the clock struck twelve.”

Ah, I believe I’ll dress for dinner tomorrow evening. The air is bracing; the tweeds should do nicely. And the briar pipe, would it be about, perchance?

“Strive for the clear, the brief, the bold.”