Quotes about Brevity

quotes
16
authors
15
Origin
“It wasn't by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short. The laws of prose writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics.”
VerifiedLetter (23 July 1945); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker · evidenceDetails & citeBrevity
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“It is no great art to say something briefly when, like Tacitus, one has something to say; when one has nothing to say, however, and none the less writes a whole book and makes truth into a liar -- that I call an achievement.”
VerifiedNotebook E (1775 - 1776) · evidenceDetails & citeBrevity
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“I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.”
— Horace
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“There's a great power in words, if you don't hitch too many of them together.”
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“Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator.”
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“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”
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“The more you say, the less people remember. The fewer the words, the greater the profit.”
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“If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams -- the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.”
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“I will be brief. Not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the world's shortest speech. He said I will be so brief I have already finished, and he sat down.”
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