Quotes About Conciseness

He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.

I made this [letter] very long, because I did not have the leisure to make it shorter.

Make project plan as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Thought for the day: Twitter...140 character limit...must be a great tool for fortune cookie writers...

Simplicity may be simple, but like complexity it requires linguistic precision, and may therefore call for relatively obscure expressions at times.

It is so dam difficult to be simple.

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friends

Good communication does not mean that you have to speak in perfectly formed sentences and paragraphs. It isn't about slickness. Simple and clear go a long way.

The more you say, the less people remember.

If I had more time I would write a shorter letter.

Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.

What are the proper proportions of a maxim? A minimum of sound to a maximum of sense.

To be brief is almost a condition of being inspired.

Who is apt, on occasion, to assign a multitude of reasons when one will do? This is a sure sign of weakness in argument.

Those who have to use an API must be able to understand it.

Only falsehood wraps itself in a flood of words. Truth is brief.

Write to be read, don't write just to write.

It's the stuff you leave out that matters. So constantly look for things to remove, simplify, and streamline. Be a curator.

Be relentless about simplifying everything without exception.

Say What You Mean: Don't Make Them Guess

Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler.

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.

The more an idea is developed, the more concise becomes its expression: the more a tree is pruned, the better is the fruit.