“Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.”

—  Arthur Quiller-Couch

sic
On the Art of Writing: Lectures Delivered in the University of Cambridge, 1913–1914 http://www.bartleby.com/190/
Often misattributed, e.g. to Hemingway, Faulkner, and others, or shortened to 'Kill your darlings.' source http://www.randomhouse.ca/hazlitt/feature/should-you-kill-your-babies

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Arthur Quiller-Couch photo
Arthur Quiller-Couch 7
British writer and literary critic 1863–1944

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