|
|
|
It is with words as with sunbeams. The more
they are condensed, the deeper they burn. ~Robert Southey
Good things, when short, are twice as good. ~Baltasar Gracian, The
Art of Worldly Wisdom
It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what other men say in
whole books - what other men do not say in whole books. ~Friedrich
Wilhelm Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief.
~William Shakespeare, Hamlet
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words
when one will do. ~Thomas Jefferson
My great-grandfather used to say to his wife, my great-grandmother,
who in turn told her daughter, my grandmother, who repeated it to
her daughter, my mother, who used to remind her daughter, my own
sister, that to talk well and eloquently was a very great art, but
that an equally great one was to know the right moment to stop.
~Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no
unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should
have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
~William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918
If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it
more thought. ~Dennis Roth
The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no
leisure to make it shorter. ~Blaise Pascal, translated from French,
Lettres Provinciales, XVI, 1656
In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other
word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your
style. ~Sydney Smith
If you bring that sentence in for a fitting, I can have it shortened
by Wednesday. ~M*A*S*H, Hawkeye, "The Gun"
"In good prose (says Schlegel) every word should be underlined!"
that is, every word should be the right one; and then no one would
be righter than another. There are no italics in Plato. ~Augustus
William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two
Brothers, 1827
He replies nothing but monosyllables. I believe he would make three
bites of a cherry. ~Rabelais, Pantagruel
Any philosophy that can be put in a nutshell belongs there. ~Branch
Rickey
If any man will draw up his case, and put his name at the foot of
the first page, I will give him an immediate reply. Where he compels
me to turn over the sheet, he must wait my leisure. ~Lord Sandwich
Brevity is the soul of lingerie. ~Dorothy Parker
If you can't write your idea on the back of my calling card, you
don't have a clear idea. ~David Belasco
 |
 |
Quotations about Brevity