"My writing improved the more I wrote - and the more I read good writing, from Shakespeare on down"
About this Quote
The sly power is in the pairing of write and read, presented not as complementary hobbies but as a feedback loop. Schaap implies that output without input is just noise, and reading without writing is admiration with no risk. “Good writing” becomes a standard you can train against, the way an athlete studies film and then runs drills. Coming from a journalist, that’s a cultural position: writing isn’t a sacred calling; it’s a job with reps, deadlines, and a locker-room respect for fundamentals.
“From Shakespeare on down” does two things at once. It punctures the false hierarchy between “high” literature and newsroom prose, while also staking a claim: even if you’re filing copy for tomorrow’s paper, your lineage runs through the canon. The phrase “on down” is lightly irreverent, but not anti-intellectual; it’s Schaap insisting that great language is a usable tool, not a museum piece. Subtext: if you want to write clearly about ordinary life, you’d better steep yourself in the best, then show up and write anyway.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Schaap, Dick. (2026, January 15). My writing improved the more I wrote - and the more I read good writing, from Shakespeare on down. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-writing-improved-the-more-i-wrote-and-the-50301/
Chicago Style
Schaap, Dick. "My writing improved the more I wrote - and the more I read good writing, from Shakespeare on down." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-writing-improved-the-more-i-wrote-and-the-50301/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My writing improved the more I wrote - and the more I read good writing, from Shakespeare on down." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-writing-improved-the-more-i-wrote-and-the-50301/. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
