Brevity In Writing Quotes & Sayings

The last at last seen of him
himself unseen by him
and of himself"
A rest.
The last Mr. Murphy saw of Mr. Endon was Mr. Murphy unseen by Mr. Endon. This was also the last Murphy saw of Murphy."
A rest.
The relation between Mr. Murphy and Mr. Endon could not have better summed up than by the former's sorrow at seeing himself in the latter's immunity from seeing anything but himself."
A long rest.
Mr. Murphy is a speck in Mr. Endon's unseen. — Samuel Beckett

Good political leadership for me involves getting the big decisions right - however difficult, however controversial, however potentially divisive - and then being able to take people with you. — Charles Kennedy

Against the censurers of brevity. - Something said briefly can be the fruit of much long thought: but the reader who is a novice in this field, and has as yet reflected on it not at all, sees in everything said briefly something embryonic, not without censuring the author for having served him up such immature and unripened fare. — Friedrich Nietzsche

Brevity is pivotal to clarity. — Suyog Ketkar

Personally, I am always more impressed by simplicity, clarity; it is the mark of a writer who knows his subject well and is secure enough not to 'lay it on' in the telling. Aim for complexity of thought, not expression. — Noah Lukeman

A skillful literary artist has constructed a tale. If wise, he has not fashioned his thoughts to accommodate his incidents; but having conceived, with deliberate care, a certain unique or single effect to be wrought out, he then invents as may best aid him in establishing this preconceived effect. If his very initial sentence tend not to the outbringing of this effect, then he has failed in his first step. In the whole composition there should be no words written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-established design. And by such means, with such care and skill, a picture is at length painted which leaves in the mind of him who contemplates it with a kindred art, a sense of the fullest satisfaction. The idea of the tale has been presented unblemished because undisturbed: and this is an end unattainable by the novel. Undue brevity is just as exceptionable here as in the poem; but undue length is yet more to be avoided. — Edgar Allan Poe

It's cool to have instruments lying around because they give you different ideas. — Ezra Koenig

He who writes distichs, wishes, I suppose, to please by brevity. But, tell me, of what avail is their brevity, when there is a whose book full of them? — Martial

Brevity in writing is the best insurance for its perusal. — Rudolf Virchow

It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book. — Friedrich Nietzsche

I hope in the end there will be a solution for the world, because we have advanced in so many ways, and still the world has so many different problems. — Farah Diba

When unhappy, one doubts everything; when happy, one doubts nothing. — Joseph Roux

Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity. — William Zinsser

When a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor. — William Strunk Jr.

I often find that when a ruthless editor forces me to trim an article to fit into a certain number of column-inches, the quality of my prose improves as if by magic. Brevity is the soul of wit, and of many other virtues in writing. — Steven Pinker

Screenwriting is made of brevity. — A.D. Posey

Through an arbitrary problem, I had arrived at a tenet of good writing: brevity wins. — Michael Winter

I confess to wincing every so often at a poorly chosen word, a mangled sentence, an expression of emotion that seems indulgent or overly practiced. I have the urge to cut the book by fifty pages or so, possessed as I am with a keener appreciation for brevity. — Barack Obama

Brevity in writing is
what charity is to all other virtues - righteousness is nothing
without the one,
nor authorship without the other. — Sydney Smith

Clarity of thought is a must for brevity in speech. — Somali K Chakrabarti

A writer's style should be direct and personal, his imagery rich and earthy, and his words simple and vigorous. The greatest writers have the gift of brilliant brevity, are hard workers, diligent scholars and competent stylists. — Ernest Hemingway,

I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter.
(Letter 16, 1657) — Blaise Pascal

Writing is 1 percent inspiration, and 99 percent elimination. — Louise Brooks

Brevity in writing is very powerful — Lance Greenfield

In the course of this story, and very soon now, it will be necessary to make some disclosures about Mr. Krupper of a nature too coarse to be dealt with very directly in a work of such brevity. The grossly naturalistic details of a life, contained in the enormously wide context of that life, are softened and qualified by it, but when you attempt to set those details down in a tale, some measure of obscurity or indirection is called for to provide the same, or even approximate, softening effect that existence in time gives to those gross elements in the life itself. When I say that there was a certain mystery in the life of Mr. Krupper, I am beginning to approach those things in the only way possible without a head-on violence that would disgust and destroy and which would actually falsify the story.
("Hard Candy") — Tennessee Williams

I love story-writing because I can (more or less, on occasion) actually DO it. That's really the truth. I like the idea that a story is sort of a site for making cool language effects - a site for celebrating language, and, therefore, the world. And the brevity is part of the challenge. I like stories because I get them - I know how to make beauty, or something like beauty, in that mode. — George Saunders

The Dog-star and Aldebaran, pointing to the restless Pleiades, were half-way up the Southern sky, and between them hung Orion, which gorgeous constellation never burnt more vividly than now, as it soared forth above the rim of the landscape. Castor and Pollux with their quiet shine were almost on the meridian: the barren and gloomy Square of Pegasus was creeping round to the north-west; far away through the plantation Vega sparkled like a lamp suspended amid the leafless trees, and Cassiopeia's chair stood daintily poised on the uppermost boughs. "One o'clock," said Gabriel. — Thomas Hardy

To write good poems is the secret of brevity. — Dejan Stojanovic

My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity. — William Zinsser

Sometimes you have tons of money, and still you are miserable, you are not satisfied. The bow of gratitude and arrow of mercy will give you everything. Gratitude will turn your attitude into mercy, mercy will bring you dharma, and dharma will give you solid prosperity. — Harbhajan Singh Yogi

I like England more than I did when I left. It's become a bit of a better country in the last ten years, in the attitude of it. A bit more Americanized, which is both good and bad. At least when you order a cup of coffee they don't give you a hard time. — Teddy Thompson