Quotes About Conciseness

test is: can the key trends be shown to the board on no more than two sides of A4 paper?

I am a minimalist. I like saying the most with the least.

Genius makes its observations in short hand; talent writes them out at length.

Words, like cannon balls, should go direct to their mark.

Your name's longer'n you are.

You strike through to the heart of the matter

If you can't understand it without an explanation, you can't understand it with an explanation.

A useful rule of thumb: If you can't communicate the vision to someone in five minutes or less and get a reaction that signifies both understanding and interest, you are not yet done

Much wisdom often goes with fewest words.

The meaning of the words is necessary and not their extent.

The short story can be hot and sweet or hot and fierce. You get it in one sitting or you don't get it. It's like a shore break. It happens quickly, and is right there in front of you, menacing you. First you're looking at the shore break, and then if you don't back up, it's on you. The novel is the long, low wave that you ride south from the Arctic Circle. It's powerful, but its power accumulates over a very long time as it rolls towards the reef.

The truth is always simpler than you can imagine.

You can cram a truth into an epigram - the truth, never.

The usefullest truths are plainest; and while we keep to them, our differences cannot rise high.

In an aphorism, aptness counts for more than truth.

You may get a large amount of truth into a brief space.

When a man has no design but to speak plain truth, he may say a great deal in a very narrow compass.

We often feel that a clever aphorism captures a truth that would require pages to defend in any other way.

I take six or seven years to write really small books. There is a kind of aesthetic of leanness, of brevity.

future. As an adjective, the word is often used unnecessarily: 'He refused to say what his future plans were' (Daily Telegraph); 'The parties are prepared to say little about how they see their future prospects' (The Times). In both sentences, and nearly all others like them, future adds nothing and should be deleted.

very should be made to pay its way in sentences. Too often it is used where it adds nothing to sense ('It was a very tragic death'), or is inserted in a futile effort to prop up a weak word that would be better replaced by something with more punch ('The play was very good').

English also has a commendable tendency toward conciseness, in contrast to many languages

Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.

I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter.