Quotes About Conciseness

Assim como todo excesso numa atividade costuma levar ao contrário do que se pretendia, as palavras servem de fato para tornar os pensamentos compreensíveis, mas só até certo ponto. Quando esse ponto é ultrapassado, elas tornam os pensamentos a serem comunicados mais e mais obscuros. Encontrar tal ponto é uma tarefa do estilo e uma questão da capacidade de julgar, pois toda palavra supérflua age diretamente contra seu objetivo.

deve-se evitar toda prolixidade e todo entrelaçamento de observações que não valem o esforço da leitura. (...) É sempre melhor deixar de lado algo bom do que incluir algo insignificante. (...) Sobretudo, não dizer tudo!

Poetry can be tedious. Too many words to say a simple thing.

An inherent tension exists between brevity and effectiveness. Cut too much and you won't have enough checks to improve care. Leave too much in and the list becomes too long to use.

The successful M & M presentation inevitably involves a certain elision of detail and a lot of passive verbs.

An inherent tension exists between brevity and effectiveness. Cut too much and you won't have enough checks to improve care. Leave too much in and the list becomes too long to use. Furthermore

What's the point of using words nobody knows or can say comfortably?

A good simile,--as concise as a king's declaration of love.

the maximum number of syllables in the minimum number of seconds,

A word to the wise is enough, and many words won't fill a bushel.

I am moreover inclined to be concise when I reflect on the constant occupation of the citizens in public and private affairs, so that in their few leisure moments they may read and understand as much as possible.

Anything that can be put in a nutshell, should remain there.

Twitter is maybe the worst thing. It's cool when you can tweet out your show and be like, 'Hey, come see my show,' or 'Check out this Kickstarter,' but it's also this weird 140-character vehicle for insidiousness.

One good analogy is worth three hours discussion.

A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation.

Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much.

Directing my own writing, I see that I talk way too much, and everything can happen much sooner, with much less said about it.

A lot of shorts spend too much time setting up the idea; sometimes they meander.

I think improvisation is a technique and a tool. I think that even the best of them fail most of the time, and in the end, the audience is not interested in how you got there but in what you're saying. The more clearly and concisely and artistically you say it, the more effective it is.

Language is always evolving. It's difficult to read Shakespeare now because language has shifted. Similarly, kids these days can get to the point really quick in about 140 characters or less because of these new tools.

There are many true statements about complex topics that are too long to fit on a PowerPoint slide.

If you can't state your position in eight words, you don't have a position.

If you have the tendency to give too much information, the Two Sentence Principle might be for you. Speak two sentences and then observe or listen to your audience (whether one person or many). Do they want more? Do they look bored or want to leave?

Nobody has time for your priceless prose. Get to the point.