Brevity Quotes - Page 2

• [S]ince brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief.

  William Shakespeare

  Soul, Important Hamlet, Polonius

  William Shakespeare, Roma Gill (2002). “Hamlet”, p.44, Oxford University Press, USA

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• The trick to writing an aphorism is to place a period at the point where you're inclined to say, "in other words.

  Robert Breault

  Writing, Aphorism, Periods

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• A drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

  William Strunk, Jr.

  Writing, Should Have, Drawing

  The Elements of Style ch. 2 (1918)

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• My great grandfather used to say to his wife, my great-grandmother, who in turn told her daughter, my grandmother, who repeated it to her daughter, my mother, who used to remind her daughter, my own sister, that to talk well and eloquently was a very great art, but that an equally great one was to know the right moment to stop.

  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  Daughter, Mother, Art

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• There are people who believe everything is sane and sensible that is done with a solemn face. ... 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.

  Georg C. Lichtenberg

  Art, Liars, Believe

  "Aphorisms" by Georg C. Lichtenberg, ("Notebook E", E 59), (1775 - 1776).

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• Let us return to 'no'. It has the charm of brevity.

  Sharon Lee

  Return, Charm

  Sharon Lee, Steve Miller (2010). “The Dragon Variation”, p.10, Baen Publishing Enterprises

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• The fewer the words, the better the prayer.

  Martin Luther

  Softball, Christian, Prayer

  Martin Luther (1959). “What Luther says: an anthology”

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• Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in a senator or an orator.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Philosophical, Speech, Brevity Of Life

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• Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.

  William Shakespeare

  Halloween, Math, Insanity

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 2, sc. 2, l. [211]

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• Spartans, stoics, heroes, saints and gods use short and positive speech.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Art, Hero, Saint

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1954). “The Power of Emerson's Wisdom”

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• I find it satisfying and intellectually stimulating to work with the intensity, brevity, balance and word play of the short story.

  Annie Proulx

  Hair, Play, Balance

  "Exclusive PJH Interview: At close range with Annie Proulx". Interview with Matthew Testa, planetjh.com. December 7, 2005.

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• What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole, its body brevity, and wit its soul.

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  Book, Beer, Soul

  'Epigram' (1802)

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• I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.

  Baltasar Gracian

  Self Improvement, Obscure, Strive

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• This above all; to thine own self be true.

  William Shakespeare

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Graduation

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 1, sc. 3, l. 58

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• How very paltry and limited the normal human intellect is, and how little lucidity there is in the human consciousness, may be judged from the fact that, despite the ephemeral brevity of human life, the uncertainty of our existence and the countless enigmas which press upon us from all sides, everyone does not continually and ceaselessly philosophize, but that only the rarest of exceptions do.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Philosophy, Doe, Ephemeral

  Arthur Schopenhauer (2004). “On the Suffering of the World”, p.87, Penguin UK

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• A parsimony of words prodigal of sense.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Parsimony, Prodigals

  Isaac Disraeli, Benjamin Disraeli (Earl of Beaconsfield) (1860). “Curiosities of Literature”, p.360

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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.

  Horace

  Art, Liars, Lying

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• When I struggle to be terse, I end by being obscure.

  Horace

  Struggle, Obscure, Ends

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• It is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his reader is sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words, or his reader will certainly misunderstand them. Generally, also, a downright fact may be told in a plain way; and we want downright facts at present more than anything else.

  John Ruskin

  Discipline, May, Want

  John Ruskin (2015). “A Joy Forever”, p.113, John Ruskin

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• We must be brief when traitors brave the field.

  William Shakespeare

  Brave, Fields, Traitor

  William Shakespeare (2013). “Histories of Shakespeare in Plain and Simple English (a Modern Translation and the Original Version)”, p.516, BookCaps Study Guides

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• A sentence well couched takes both the sense and understanding. I love not those cart-rope speeches that are longer than the memory of man can fathom.

  Owen Feltham

  Memories, Men, Understanding

  Owen Feltham (1840). “Resolves: divine, moral and political”, p.50

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• It is not a great Xerxes army of words, but a compact Greek ten thousand that march safely down to posterity.

  James Russell Lowell

  Army, Greek, March

  James Russell Lowell (1870). “Among My Books: First [-second] series”, p.239

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• Given the brevity of our time here, it does seem likely that our species, too, must have at best a blinkered understanding of the shape of things, the import of certain events and what distinguishes "good" from "bad" luck.

  Karen Russell

  Understanding, Luck, Events

  "What Author Karen Russell Knows For Sure About 7 P.M." by Karen Russell, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 19, 2012.

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• The secret of being a bore... is to tell everything.

  Voltaire

  Boredom, Secret, Bores

  SAMUEL JOHNSON

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• In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style.

  Sydney Smith

  Running, Writing, Ideas

  Sydney Smith, lady Saba (Smith) Holland Holland (1855). “A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith”, p.431

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