Concise Quotes

• The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Inspirational, Motivational, Teaching

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• The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

  Hans Hofmann

  Inspirational, Business, Mean

  1967 Search for the Real.

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• A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that 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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• Conciseness in art is essential and a refinement. The concise man makes one think; the verbose bores. Always work towards conciseness.

  Edouard Manet

  Art, Men, Thinking

  30 Copy quote

• Vigorous writing is concise.

  William Strunk, Jr.

  Writing, Vigorous

  The Elements of Style ch. 2 (1918)

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• In trying to be concise I become obscure.

  Horace

  Trying, Obscure

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• I am moreover inclined to be concise when I reflect on the constant occupation of the citizens in public and private affairs, so that in their few leisure moments they may read and understand as much as possible.

  Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

  Citizens, Occupation, May

  Marcus VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Joseph GWILT (1826). “The Architecture of M. Vitruvius Pollio in Ten Books, Translated from the Latin by J. Gwilt”, p.124

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• There is no truth which cannot be given in fifty words; the truth is always concise.

  Barry N. Malzberg

  Fifty, Truth Is, Given

  "Beyond Apollo". Book by Barry N. Malzberg, 1972.

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• For me writing biographies is impossible, unless they are brief and concise, and these are, I feel, the most eloquent.

  Alfred Nobel

  Writing, Biographies, Impossible

  4 Copy quote

• Achieving goals is a creative process. The first step in the creation of your primary goal takes place in your conscious mind. Through the aid of your senses and/or your imagination, you must form a very clear, concise image of yourself already in possession of your goal.

  Bob Proctor

  Imagination, Goal, Creative

  FaceBook post by Bob Proctor from Oct 03, 2011

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• This is an extraordinary illustrated collection of Chinese herbsaccompanied by concise and expert comments. Jing-Nuan Wu has succeeded incompiling this most unique and informative book.

  Koji Nakanishi

  Book, Unique, Chinese

  3 Copy quote

• I liked the challenge of writing in a very concise structure in which both meaning and form are important.

  Jeffery Deaver

  Writing, Challenges, Important

  3 Copy quote

• I like films that are well-written and concise and with not a lot of room for improvisation.

  Patrice Leconte

  Rooms, Film, Wells

  "Arms Wide Open: Patrice Leconte Talks About 'Intimate Strangers'". IndieWire Interview, www.indiewire.com. July 30, 2004.

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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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• God has stated in clear and concise language how He created the universe and we ought not to doubt His Word.

  Walter Lang

  Doubt, Language, Clear

  3 Copy quote

• Without a concise set of rules to follow we would probably all have to resort to common sense

  David Thorne

  Common Sense, Common, Resorts

  David Thorne (2011). “The Internet is a Playground: Irreverent Correspondences of an Evil Online Genius”, p.38, Penguin

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• I'm trying to tell the story in the most clear, concise, and truthful way, taking those everyday words and phrases and capturing them in a way that they become something else.

  Jay-Z

  Everyday, Trying, Phrases

  Interview with Elvis Mitchell, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 11, 2010.

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• Arizona, our beautiful state, was built on mining.

  Jan Brewer

  Beautiful, Uranium Mining, Arizona

  Interview with John King, www.realclearpolitics.com. February 22, 2012.

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• In the wake of her indispensable textbook, Janet Burroway now offers a splendid and concise guide to the thorny task of revision. Writers, young and old, will feel encouraged and enlightened by this excellent DVD which offers a wonderful range of specific advice and suggestive comments from a group of experienced and thoughtful writers.

  Margot Livesey

  Thoughtful, Dvds, Advice

  2 Copy quote

• I am fairly concise when I work and I work quickly because I think work is done better in a high gear than done our in a gear when everyone's exhausted. Get focused, do it!

  Twyla Tharp

  Thinking, Gears, Done

  "A Conversation With Choreographer Twyla Tharp". Interview with Daviv Shenk, www.theatlantic.com. February 26, 2010.

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• Aphorism, n.: A concise, clever statement you don’t think of until too late.

  James Alexander Thom

  Clever, Thinking, Too Late

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• In laboring to be concise, I become obscure.
  [Lat., Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio.]

  Horace

  Speech, Obscure

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• Good web text has a lot in common with good print text. It's plain, concise, concrete and 'transparent': even on a personal site the text shouldn't draw attention to itself, only to its subject.

  Crawford Kilian

  Attention, Common, Site

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• A story should, to please, at least seem true,
  Be apropos, well told, concise, and new:
  And whenso'er it deviates from these rules,
  The wise will sleep, and leave applause to fools.

  Benjamin Stillingfleet

  Wise, Sleep, Fool

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• I like poetry because poetry - even in free verse - is formal, and it has to be very concise and packed and rich, and I like the feeling of having to do that, having to make the language tight and still free, as if the deepest freedom is created by the restrictions.

  Pattiann Rogers

  Feelings, Language, Rich

  Interview with Carolyn Perry and Wayne Zade, poems.com. 2009.

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